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AUTHOR: 


BOHME,  JAKOB 


TITLE: 


SIXTHEOSOPHIC 

POINTS  AND  OTHER 


PLA  CE : 


NEW  YORK 

DA  TE : 

1920 


COIAJML5JA  UNiVHRSriY  [,I13RARIES 
P  R  E  S I  -:  R  V  A  T I  ON  D  E I  'A  RT  M  E  N  T 


Master  Negative  f» 


BIBLIOGRAPHIC  MICROFORM  TARGET 


Original  Material  as  Filmed  -  Existing  Bibliographic  Record 


Restrictions  on  Use: 


1      -  iMPiu.  I    III   I  mwmmm'^fmmmmm 


MmMmM 


193B63 


■jr^y-  > 


J?- 


I    ||-     JL-.Jyi. 


Von  sechs  theosdphischen  Purictori 

Bi5hine|  Jakob,  l575-162u^ 

Six  theosophic  points  and  othe^r  HrltingS, 

by  Jacob  [ibhme,  newlj  translated  into  English 

by  John  Rolleston  E^rle»,,  New  York,  Knopf, 
1920. 

220  p.        21|  cm. 


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THE  LIBRARIES 


GIVEN  BY 


u 


SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 

AND  OTHER  WRITINGS 


w 


GONE  WEST 

BY   A   SOLDIER   DOCTOR 

FOUR-DIMENSIONAL  VISTAS 

BY    CLAUDE    BRAGDON 

THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 

BY    EDWARD    C.    RANDALL 

At  all  booksellers 
NEW  YORK: ALFRED • A • KNOPF 

220   WEST   FORTY-SECOND  STREET 


SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 


AND  OTHER  WRITINGS 


By     JACOB     BOHME 

NEWLY     TRANSLATED     INTO     ENGLISH    BY 

JOHN  ROLLESTON  EARLE,  M.  A. 


NEW  YORK 

ALFRED  •  A • KNOPF 
MCMXX 


|\ 


COPYRIGHT,  1920,  BY 
ALFRED  A.  KNOPF,  Inc. 


MR  1   2tf 


*,  O'   *^> 


p 


lA 


FEINTED    IN    THE    UNITED    STATES    OF    AMERICA 


AUTHOR'S  PREI  ACE  TO  THE 

READER 


We  have  written  this  work,  not  for  the  irrational 
animals  who,  in  their  exterior,  have  the  form  of 
man,  but  in  their  image,  in  spirit,  are  evil  and  wild 
beasts,  which  is  disclosed  and  exhibited  by  their 
properties;  but  for  the  image  of  man,  for  those 
who  are  budding  forth  out  of  the  animal  image 
with  a  human  image  that  belongs  to  God's  king- 
dom, and  who  would  fain  live  and  grow  in  the  hu- 
man image,  in  the  right  man.  Those  who  are  often 
and  much  hindered  by  the  contrarious  life,  and  thus 
are  involved  in  the  mixed  life,  and  travail  in  desire 
for  the  birth  of  the  holy  life:  for  them  are  these 
writings  written.  And  we  bid  them  not  regard  it 
as  impossible  to  discern  and  to  know  such  mystery ; 
and  we  give  them  this  to  consider  of  in  a  similitude. 
Let  them  imagine  a  life  which  is  the  outcome  and 
growth  of  all  lives,  and  is  mixed.  But  let  them  also 
imagine  another  hfe  to  grow  in  it  from  all  the  lives, 
which,  though  it  had  grown  from  all  the  lives,  was 
free  from  all  the  other  lives,  and  yet  possessed  all  the 
essential  properties  of  those  lives.  This  other  new 
life  (let  them  imagine)  is  illuminated  with  the  light, 
and  only  in  itself;  so  that  it  could  behold  all  the 
other  lives,  and  they  (the  other  lives)  could  not  see 
nor  apprehend  the  new  life.     Thus  is  every  one, 


6  SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 

who,  out  of  the  mixed  life,  evil  and  good,  is  born 
again  in  and  of  God.  This  new  image,  born  in  the 
life  of  God,  beholds  all  the  natural  lives,  and  noth- 
ing is  strange  or  difficult  to  it ;  for  it  beholds  only 
its  root  from  which  it  grew.  As  a  fair  flower  grows 
out  of  the  rough  earth,  which  is  not  like  the  earth 
but  declares  by  its  beauty  the  power  of  the  earth, 
and  how  it  is  mixed  of  good  and  evil;  so  also  is 
every  man,  who,  out  of  the  animal,  wild,  earthly 
nature  and  quality,  is  born  again  so  as  to  become 
the  right  image  of  God. 

For  those  who  are  a  growth  of  such  a  kind,  and 
are  shooting  forth  into  the  fair  lily  in  the  kingdom 
of  God,  and  are  in  process  of  birth,  have  we  written 
this  book ;  that  they  should  strengthen  their  essences 
therein,  bud  in  the  life  of  God,  and  grow  and  bear 
fruit  in  the  tree  of  paradise.  And  seeing  all  the 
children  of  God  grow  in  this  tree,  and  each  is  a 
twig  of  this  same  tree,  we  have  wished  to  impart 
to  our  twigs  and  fellow-branches  in  our  tree,  in 
which  we  all  are,  and  from  which  we  all  grow,  our 
sap,  savour  and  essence,  that  our  tree  of  paradise 
may  become  great,  and  that  we  may  rejoice  one 
with  another.  And  we  would  urge  all  children,  who 
are  thus  growing  in  this  tree,  friendly  to  ponder 
that  each  branch  and  twig  helps  to  shelter  the  other 
from  the  storm,  and  we  commend  ourselves  unto 
their  love  and  growth. 


CONTENTS 


SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 
Author's  Preface  to  the  Reader 

The  First  Point.  Of  the  springing  of  the  three  Prin- 
ciples, etc. 

Chapter  I.  Of  the  first  growth  and  life  from  the 
first  Principle_,  etc. 

Chapter  II.  Of  the  proprium  of  the  principle,  etc. 


The   Second   Point. 
good,  etc. 
Chapter  III. 


Of   the   mixed   tree   of  evil   and 


PAGE 

5 


13 

13 

31 


•47 
47 


The    Third   Point.     Of   the    origin  of   contrariety    in 

growth,  etc.  54 

Chapter  IV.  54 


The  Fourth  Point.  How  the  holy  and  good  tree  of 
eternal  life  grows  through  and  out  of  all  the  growths 
of  the  three  principles^  etc. 

Chapter  V. 

Chapter  VI. 


64 
64 
70 


The  Fifth  Point.     How  a  life  may  perish  in  the  tree  of 

life,  etc. 

Chapter  VII. 

Chapter  VIII.  Of  the  right  human  essence  from 
God's  essence 

7 


^76 
76 

90 


8 


SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 


PAOI 


The  Sixth  Point.     Of  the  life  of  darkness,  wherein  the 

devils  dwell,  etc.  ^^,. 

Chapter  IX.  99 

Chapter  X.  Of  the  four  elements  of  the  devil  and 

of  the  dark  world,  etc. 


SIX  MYSTICAL  POINTS 
Preface 

The  First  Point.     On  the  blood  and  water  of  the  soul 
The  Second  Point.     On  the  election  of  grace,  etc. 
The  Third  Point.     On  sin,  etc. 

The  Fourth  Point.     How  Christ  will  deliver  up  the 
kingdom  to  his  Father 

The  Fifth  Point.     On  Magic.     Wiat  Magic  is,  etc. 
The  Sixth  Point.     On  Mystery.     What  it  is 


112 


127 
129x 
131 
135 

14.1 
143 
148 


CONTENTS 

ON  THE  DIVINE  INTUITION 
Chapter  I.  What  God  is,  etc 

Chapter  II.  Of  the  mind,  will,  and  thoughts  of  human 
life,  etc. 

Chapter  III.  Of  the  natural  ground,  etc. 
Chapter  IV.  Of  the  In  and  Out,  etc. 


9 

PAOE 

177 

191 

202 
219 


ON  THE  EARTHLY  AND  HEAVENLY 

MYSTERY 


The  First  Text 
The  Second  Text 
The  Third  Text 
The  Fourth  Text 
The  Fifth  Text 
The  Sixth  Text 
The  Seventh  Text 
The  Eighth  Text 
The  Ninth  Text 


153 

154 

155 

156 

159 

162 

164 

168 

172 


SEX  PUNCTA  THEOSOPHICA 


OR 


HIGH  AND  DEEP  GROUNDING  OF 

SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 

BY 

JACOB    BOHME 

AN  OPEN  GATE  OF  ALL  THE  SECRETS  OF  LIFE 

WHEREIN  THE  CAUSES  OF  ALL  BEINGS 

BECOME  KNOWN 


Written  in  the  year  1620 


THE  FIRST  POINT 

Of  the  springing  of  the  three  principles 
What  sort  of  tree  or  life  each  generates 
IN  itself  and  from  itself.  How  we  are 
to  investigate  and  know  the  ground  of 
nature 

CHAPTER  I 

Of  the  first  growth  and  life  from  the  first  Principle, 
That  we  are  so  to  ponder  and  consider  it,  as  if  it 
stood  alone  and  were  not  mixed  with  the  other, 
— what  its  power  might  he.  That,  therefore, 
we  are  not  to  think  of  it  as  being  such  that  it  is 
on€  and  united  in  a  single  figure  or  creation; 
hut  [we  are  to  think  of  it  sol  ^^^^  ^'^  learn  to 
explore  and  fathom  the  centrum  naturae,  and 
to  distinguish  the  divine  Essence  from  Nature, 

1.  We  see  and  find  that  every  life  is  essential, 
and  find  moreover  that  it  is  based  on  will;  for  will 
is  the  driving  of  the  essences. 

2.  It  is  thus,  as  if  a  hidden  fire  lay  in  the  will, 
and  the  will  continually  uphfting  itself  towards  the 
fire  wished  to  awaken  and  kindle  it. 

3.  For  we  understand  that  every  will  without 
the  awakening  of  the  fiery  essences  is  an  impotency, 
as  it  were  dumb  without  life,  wherein  is  no  feeling, 

13 


14         SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 

understanding  or  substantiality.  It  resembles 
only  a  shadow  without  substance;  for  it  has  no 
conductor,  but  sinks  down  and  suffers  itself  to  be 
driven  and  led  like  a  dead  thing, — such  as  is  to  be 
compared  to  a  shadow,  which  is  led  along  without 
essence. 

4.  Thus  an  essential  will  is  a  dumb  existence 
without  comprehension  or  life;  and  yet  is  a  figure 
in  the  unfathomable  eternal  nothing,  for  it  is 
attached  to  the  corporeal  things. 

5.  Now,  as  the  will  without  essence  is  dumb  and 
without  being,  so  in  the  essence  it  is  a  being  and 
image  according  to  the  essences,  which  is  fashioned 
after  the  essences ;  for  the  life  of  the  will  is  generated 
from  the  essences. 

6.  Thus  life  is  the  essences*  son,  and  the  will, 
wherein  life's  figure  stands,  is  the  essences'  father; 
for  no  essence  can  arise  without  will.  For  in  the 
will  is  originated  desire,  in  which  the  essences  take 
their  rise.  ^ 

7.  Seeing  then  the  first  will  is  an  ungrounded- 
ness,  to  be  regarded  as  an  eternal  nothing,  we 
recognize  it  to  be  like  a  mirror,  wherein  one  sees 
his  own  image ;  like  a  life,  and  yet  it  is  no  life,  but 
a  figure  of  hfe  and  of  the  image  belonging  to  life. 

8.  Thus  we  recognize  the  eternal  Unground  out 
of  Nature  to  be  like  a  mirror.  For  it  is  like  an  eye 
which  sees,  and  yet  conducts  nothing  in  the  seeing 
wherewith  it  sees;  for  seeing  is  without  essence, 
although  it  is  generated  from  essence,  viz.  from  the 
essential  life. 

9.  We  are  able  then  to  recognize  that  the  eternal 


THE  FIRST  POINT  15 

Unground  out  of  Nature  is  a  will,  like  an  eye  where- 
in Nature  is  hidden;  like  a  hidden  fire  that  burns 
not,  which  exists  and  also  exists  not.  It  is  not  a 
spirit,  but  a  form  of  spirit,  like  the  reflection  in  the 
mirror.  For  all  the  form  of  a  spirit  is  seen  in  the 
reflection  or  in  the  mirror,  and  yet  there  is  nothing 
which  the  eye  or  mirror  sees;  but  its  seeing  is  in 
itself,  for  there  is  nothing  before  it  that  w^re  deeper 
there.  It  is  like  a  mirror  which  is  a  container  of 
the  aspect  of  Nature,  and  yet  comprehends  not 
Nature,  as  Nature  comprehends  not  the  form  of  the 
image  in  the  mirror. 

10.  And  thus  one  is  free  from  the  other,  and  yet 
the  mirror  is  truly  the  container  of  the  image.  It 
embraces  the  image,  and  yet  is  powerless  in  respect 
of  the  form,  for  it  cannot  retain  it.  For  if  the 
image  depart  from  the  mirror,  the  mirror  is  a  clear 
brightness,  and  its  brightness  is  a  nothing;  and 
yet  all  the  form  of  Nature  is  hidden  therein  as  a 
nothing;  and  yet  veritably  is,  but  not  in  essence. 

11.^  And  so  it  is  to  be  understood  concerning  the 
hidden  eternal  wisdom  of  God,  which  resembles  an 
eternal  eye  without  essence.  It  is  the  unground, 
and  vet  sees  all;  all  has  been  hidden  in  it  from 
eternity,  and  therefrom  it  has  its  seeing.  But  it  is 
not  essential,  as  in  the  mirror  the  brightness  is 
not  essential,  which  yet  embraces  all  that  appears 
before  it. 

12.  Secondly,  this  is  to  be  understood  also  of  the 
eternal  will,  which  likewise  is  without  essence,  as 
also  of  the  Spirit  of  God.  For  no  seeing  is  without 
spirit,  neither  is  any  spirit  without  seeing.     And 


16  SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 

we  understand  thus,  that  seeing  shines  forth  from 
the  spirit,  and  is  its  eye  or  mirror,  wherein  the 
will  is  revealed.  For  seeing  makes  a  will,  as  the 
unground  of  the  deep  without  number  knows  to  find 
no  ground  nor  Mmit;  hence  its  mirror  goeth  into 
itself,  and  makes  a  ground  in  itself,  that  is  a  will. 

13.  Thus  the  mirror  of  the  eternal  eye  shines 
forth  in  the  will,  and  generates  to  itself  another 
eternal  ground  within  itself.  This  is  its  centre  or 
heart,  from  which  the  seeing  continually  takes  its 
rise  from  eternity,  and  through  which  the  will  be- 
comes moving  and  directive,  namely  of  that  which 
the  centre  brings  forth. 

14.  For  all  is  comprised  in  the  will,  and  is  an 
essence,  which,  in  the  eternal  Unground,  eternally 
takes  its  rise  in  itself,  enters  into  itself,  grasps 
itself  in  itself,  and  makes  the  centre  in  itself;  but 
with  that  which  is  grasped  passes  out  of  itself, 
manifests  itself  in  the  brightness  of  the  eye,  and 
thus  shines  forth  out  of  the  essence  in  itself  and 
from  itself.  It  is  its  own,  and  yet  also  in  com- 
parison to  Nature  is  as  a  nothing  (understand,  in 
comparison  to  palpable  being,  so  to  speak)  ;  though 
it  is  all,  and  all  arises  from  thence. 

15.  And  herein  we  understand  the  eternal  Es- 
sence of  the  triad  of  the  Deity,  with  the  un- 
fathomable wisdom.  For  the  eternal  will,  which 
comprehends  the  eye  or  the  mirror,  wherein  lies 
the  eternal  seeing  as  its  wisdom,  is  Father.  And 
that  which  is  eternally  grasped  in  wisdom,  the 
grasp  comprehending  a  basis  or  centre  in  itself, 
passing  out  of  the  ungroundness  into  a  ground, 


THE  FIRST  POINT  17 

is  Son  or  Heart;  for  it  is  the  Word  of  life,  or  its 
essentiality,  in  which  the  will  shines  forth  with 
lustre. 

16.  And  the  going  within  itself  to  the  centre  of 
the  gi'ound  is  Spirit;  for  it  is  the  finder,  who  from 
eternity  continually  finds  where  there  is  nothing. 
It  goes  forth  again  from  the  centre  of  the  ground, 
and  seeks  in  the  will.  And  then  the  mirror  of  the 
eye,  viz.  the  Father's  and  Son's  wisdom,  becomes 
manifest;  and  v*^isdom  stands  accordingly  before 
the  Spirit  of  God,  who  in  it  manifests  the  unground. 
For  its  virtue,  wherein  the  colours  of  the  wonders 
shine  forth,  is  revealed  from  the  Father  of  the 
eternal  will  through  the  centre  of  his  Heart  or 
Ground  by  the  forthgoing  Spirit. 

17.  For  it  (wisdom)  is  that  which  is  uttered, 
which  the  Father  utters  out  of  the  centre  of  the 
Heart  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  stands  in  divine 
forms  and  images,  in  the  ocular  view  of  the  Holy 
Tri-unity  of  God ;  but  as  a  virgin  without  bringing 
forth.  It  generates  not  the  colours  and  figures 
which  shine  forth  in  it,  and  are  revealed  in  the 
ground  and  essence ;  but  all  is  together  an  eternal 
Magia,  and  dwells  with  the  centre  of  the  heart  in 
itself,  and  by  the  spirit  goes  forth  from  the  centre 
out  of  itself,  and  manifests  itself  in  the  eye  of  virgin 
wisdom  endlessly. 

18.  For  as  the  essence  of  the  Deity  has  no  gi'ound 
from  which  it  arises  or  proceeds,  so  also  the  Will- 
spirit  has  no  ground  where  it  might  rest,  where 
there  were  a  place  or  limit,  but  is  called  Wonder- 
ful.    And  its  word  or  heart,  from  which  it  goes 


18         SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 

forth,  is  called  the  eternal  Power  of  the  Deity ;  and 
the  will  which  generates  the  heart  and  the  power 
in  itself  is  called  eternal  Counsel. 

19.  Thus  the  essence  of  the  Deity  is  eveiy where 
in  the  deep  of  the  unground,  like  as  a  wheel  or  eye, 
where  the  beginning  hath  always  the  end ;  and  there 
is  no  place  found  for  it,  for  it  is  itself  the  place 
of  all  beings  and  the  fulness  of  all  things,  and  yet 
is  apprehended  or  seen  by  nothing.  For  it  is  an 
eye  in  itself,  as  Ezekiel  the  prophet  saw  this  in  a 
figure  at  the  introduction  of  the  spirit  of  his  will  into 
God,  when  his  spiritual  figure  was  introduced  into 
the  wisdom  of  God  by  the  Spirit  of  God;  there  he 
attained  the  vision,  and  in  no  other  way  can  that  be. 

The  Second  Text. 

20.  We  understand,  then,  that  the  divine  Essence 
in  threefoldness  in  the  unground  dwells  in  itself, 
but  generates  to  itself  a  ground  within  itself,  viz. 
the  eternal  word  or  heart,  which  is  the  centre  or 
goal  of  rest  in  the  Deity;  though  this  is  not  to 
be  understood  as  to  being,  but  as  to  a  threefold 
spirit,  where  each  is  the  cause  of  the  birth  of  the 
other. 

21.  And  this  threefold  spirit  is  not  measurable, 
divisible  or  fathomable;  for  there  is  no  place  found 
for  it,  and  it  is  at  the  same  time  the  unground  of 
eternity,  which  gives  birth  to  itself  within  itself  in 
a  ground.  And  no  place  or  position  can  be  con- 
ceived or  found  where  the  spirit  of  the  tri-unity  is 
not  present,  and  in  every  being;  but  hidden  to  the 


<i 


THE  FIRST  POINT  19 

being,  dwelling  in  itself,  as  an  essence  that  at  once 
fills  all  and  yet  dwells  not  in  being,  but  itself  has  a 
being  in  itself;  as  we  are  to  reflect  concerning  the 
ground  and  unground,  how  the  two  are  to  be  under- 
stood in  reference  to  each  other. 

22.  Thus,  we  understand  eternity:  (1)  How  it 
was  before  the  times  of  the  creation  of  this  world. 
(2)  What  the  divine  Essence  is  in  itself  without  a 
principle.  (3)  What  the  eternal  beginning  in  the 
unground  is,  and  the  eternal  end  in  its  own  ground 
generated  in  itself,  viz.  the  centre  to  the  wordi, 
which  word  is  the  centre  itself.  (4)  And  yet  the 
eternal  birth  of  the  Word  in  the  will  in  the  mirror 
of  the  eternal  wisdom,  in  the  virgin,  continually 
takes  place  from  eternity  to  eternity  without  a 
genetrix  or  without  bringing  forth. 

23.  And  in  this  virgin  of  the  wisdom  of  God 
the  eternal  principle  is  as  a  hidden  fire,  which  is 
recognized  as  in  a  mirror  by  its  colours.  It  has 
been  known  from  eternity  to  eternity  in  figure, 
and  is  known  also  thus  to  all  eternity  in  the  eternal 
origin,  in  wisdom. 

24.  And  in  this  mirror,  where  the  principle  is 
disclosed  from  the  eternal  Unground,  the  essence 
of  the  three  principles,  according  to  the  likeness  of 
the  holy  triad,  has  been  seen  with  their  wonders  as 
in  an  unfathomable  deep,  and  that  from  eternity. 

25.  We  are  now  to  understand  that  the  first 
Principle  is  magical  in  origin ;  for  it  is  generated  in 
desire,  in  the  will.  Hence  its  craving  and  contra- 
will  to  bring  forth  is  also  magical,  namely  to  bring 
forth  the  second  Principle. 


20         SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 

26.  And  whereas  in  the  first  and  second  principle 
only  a  spirit  without  comprehensible  [corporeal] 
being  is  understood;  yet  there  is  also  the  craving  to 
give  birth  furthermore  to  the  third  Principle,  where- 
in the  spirit  of  the  two  principles  might  rest  and 
manifest  itself  in  similitude. 

27.  And  though  each  principle  has  its  centre,  the 
first  principle  stands  in  magical  quality,  and  its 
centre  is  fire,  which  cannot  subsist  without  sub- 
stance; therefore  its  hunger  and  desire  is  after 
substance. 

28.  And  in  regard  to  the  first  principle,  if  we 
speak  only  of  one  (though  it  is  not  single  and  soli- 
tary) ,  we  are  to  understand  that  the  unfathomable 
will  in  the  centre  of  the  unground,  in  which  the 
eternal  Word  is  continually  generated  from  eter- 
nity, is  desirous;  for  the  will  desires  the  centre,  viz. 
the  word  or  heart. 

29.  Secondly,  it  desires  that  the  heart  should  be 
manifest.  For  in  the  unground  there  is  no  mani- 
festation, but  an  eternal  nothingness;;  a  stillness 
without  being  or  colours,  neither  any  virtue — (but 
in  Desire  colours,  power  and  virtue  come  to  be)  — 
and  is  thus  hidden  in  itself,  and  were  eternally  not 
manifest;  for  there  would  be  no  light,  splendour  or 
majesty,  but  a  threefold  spirit  in  itself,  which  were 
without  source  (Qual)  of  any  being. 

30.  And  thus  we  are  to  understand  the  essence  of 
the  deepest  Deity,  without  and  beyond  Nature. 

31.  Further,  we  are  to  understand  that  the 
eternal  will  of  the  Deity  desires  to  manifest  itself 
from  its  own  ground  in  the  light  of  Majesty,  where- 


('\ 


THE  FIRST  POINT  21 

by  we  apprehend  the  first  will  of  the  Father  to  the 
Son  and  to  the  light  of  Majesty  to  be  desirous. 
And  that  in  two  ways :  The  first  way  to  the  centre 
of  the  Word;  the  second  to  Light  or  manifestation 
of  the  Word.  And  we  find  that  every  desire  is 
attrahent,  though  in  the  unground  there  is  nothing 
that  can  be  drawn;  hence  the  desire  di^aws  itself, 
and  impregnates  the  other  will  of  the  Father,  which 
imaginates  for  the  Hght  of  Majesty  from  the  centre 
of  his  word  or  heart. 

32.  Now  is  the  heart  pregnant  with  Light,  and 
the  first  will  pregnant  with  Nature;  and  yet  were 
none  of  this  manifest,  if  the  principle  were  not 
generated. 

33.  The  Father  generates  from  the  first  will  the 
first  Principle,  as  the  nature  which  in  fire  attains 
to  the  highest  perfection;  and  then  he  generates 
the  second  Principle  in  and  from  the  other  will  to 
the  Word,  in  that  he  desires  the  manifestation  of  the 
Word  in  the  light  of  JNIajesty.  Thus  the  fire  of  the 
second  principle  in  the  light  of  Majesty  is  a  satis- 
fying or  appeasing  of  the  first  will :  namely  gentle- 
ness, which  is  opposed  to  the  fire  of  the  first  prin- 
ciple, and  quenches  its  fierce  wrath,  and  brings  it 
into  an  essential  substance  as  into  an  eternal  life. 
But  the  fire  is  hidden  in  the  hght,  and  gives  to  the 
light  its  power,  strength  and  might,  so  that  together 
there  is  an  eternal  union,  and  one  without  the  other 
would  not  be. 


M 


99 


SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 


^r 


Oj  the  first  Principle  in  itself;  what  it  is 

{singly)  in  itself. 

34.  We  are  to  consider  Desire;  for  every  desire 
attracts  what  is  in  the  desiring  will. 

35.  God,  however,  desires  only  light,  viz.  the 
lustre  from  his  heart,  that  he  may  shine  forth  in 
wisdom,  and  the  whole  God  thus  be  manifest  in 
himself,  and  by  the  forth-going  Spirit  out  of  him- 
self, in  the  virgin  of  his  wisdom ;  and  that  there  be 
an  eternal  perfect  joy,  delight  and  satisfaction  in 
him. 

36.  Now  this  can  be  accomplished  in  no  other 
way  than  through  fire,  where  the  will  is  brought  into 
the  deepest  sharpness  of  omnipotence,  as  it  becomes 
consuming  in  fire.  Contrariwise,  light  is  a  gentle- 
ness of  the  genetrix  of  the  omni-substantiality. 

37.  But  fire  must  have  a  genetrix  to  its  origin 
and  life,  and  here  it  appears  in  two  lives  and  sources. 
And  they  are  rightly  called  two  principles,  although 
there  is  only  one;  but  it  is  a  twofold  source  in  one 
being,  and  is  in  respect  of  the  source  regarded  as 
two  beings,  as  is  to  be  seen  in  fire  and  light. 

38.  We  now  consider  Desire,  and  find  that  it  is 
a  stern  attraction,  like  an  eternal  elevation  or 
motion.  For  it  draws  itself  into  itself,  and  makes 
itself  pregnant,  so  that  from  the  thin  freedom 
where  there  is  nothing  a  darkness  is  produced. 
For  the  desiring  will  becomes  by  the  drawing-in 
thick  and  full,  although  there  is  nothing  but 
darkness. 

39.  The  first  will  would  now  be  free  from  the 


# 


THE  FIRST  POINT  23 

darkness,  for  it  desires  light,  and  yet  cannot  thus 
attain  it.  For  the  greater  the  desire  is  for  freedom, 
the  greater  becomes  the  attraction  and  the  sting 
of  the  essences,  which  take  their  rise  in  the  drawing 
or  desire. 

40.  Thus  the  will  draws  the  more  strongly  into 
itself,  and  its  pregnancy  becomes  the  greater,  and 
yet  the  darkness  cannot  comprehend  the  centre  of 
the  word  or  heart  of  the  ternary;  for  this  centre  is 
a  degree  deeper  in  itself,  and  yet  is  a  band. 

41.  But  the  first  will,  in  which  the  gestation  of 
Nature  takes  place,  is  deeper  still  than  the  centre 
of  the  word,  for  it  arises  from  the  eternal  Unground 
or  Nothing;  and  thus  the  centre  of  the  heart  is 
shut  up  in  the  midst,  the  first  will  of  the  Father 
labouring  to  the  birth  of  fire. 

42.  Now,  we  are  to  understand  that  in  the  stern 
attraction  a  very  unyielding  substance  and  being  is 
produced.  And  so  then  substance  from  eternity 
has  its  origin ;  for  the  drawing  gives  sting,  and  the 
drawn  gives  hardness,  matter  from  nothing,  a 
substance  and  essentiality.  The  sting  of  the  draw- 
ing dwells  now  in  this  essentiality,  pierces  and 
breaks;  and  all  this  from  the  desiring  will  which 

draws. 

43.  And  here  we  are  to  recognize  two  forms  of 
Nature,  viz.  sour  (astringent),  that  is  Desire,  and 
then  the  sting,  which  makes  in  the  desire  a  breaking 
and  piercing,  whence  feeling  arises,  that  is,  bitter, 
and  is  the  second  form  of  Nature,  a  cause  and 
origin  of  the  essences  in  Nature. 

44.  Now  the  first  will  is  not  satisfied  with  this, 


<l 


24  SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 

nor  set  at  rest,  but  is  brought  thereby  into  a  very 
great  anguish;  for  it  desires  freedom  in  light,  and 
yet,  however,  there  is  no  brightness  in  freedom. 
Then  it  falls  into  terrible  anguish,  and  so  uphfts 
the  desire  for  freedom,  that  the  anguish,  as  a  dying 
or  sinking  down  through  death,  introduces  its  will 
into  freedom  out  of  the  breaking,  piercing  and 
powerful  attracting. 

45.  Here,  then,  we  understand  the  will  in  two 
ways:  One,  which  rises  in  fierceness  to  generation 
of  the  wrath-fire ;  the  other,  which  imaginates  after 
the  centre  of  the  word,  and,  passing  out  of  the 
anguish,  as  through  a  dying,  sinks  into  the  free  life; 
and  thus  brings  with  it  a  life  out  of  the  torment 
of  anguish  into  freedom,  so  that  the  eternal  Un- 
ground  is  recognized  as  a  life,  and  from  the  Nothing 
an  eternal  life  springs.  * 

46.  Seeing  then  the  first  movement  of  the  will 
rises  to  the  birth  of  fire,  we  recognize  it  as  the  first 
nature,  viz.  the  Father's  nature  in  fierce  wrath; 
and  the  other  entrance  of  the  will  into  freedom, 
into  the  centre  of  the  heart,  we  recognize  as  the 
Divine  Nature,  as  the  life  in  light,  in  the  power  of 
the  Deitv. 

47.  It  is  now  clear  what  the  first  will  to  fire 
operates  and  effects,  viz.  stern,  hard,  bitter,  and 
great  anguish,  which  is  the  third  form  of  Nature; 
for  anguish  is  as  the  centre  where  life  and  will 
eternally  take  their  rise.  For  the  will  would  be 
free  from  the  great  anguish,  and  yet  cannot.  It 
would  flee,  and  yet  is  held  by  the  sourness  (astrin- 
gency)  ;  and  the  greater  the  will  for  flight  becomes, 


S 


;«» 


THE  FIRST  POINT  25 

the  greater  becomes  the  bitter  sting  of  the  essences 
and  plurality. 

48.  It  being  unable  then  to  flee  or  ascend,  it  turns 
as  a  wheel.  And  here  the  essences  become  mixed, 
and  the  plurality  of  essences  enters  into  a  mixed 
will,  which  is  rightly  called  the  eternal  mind,  where 
plurality  in  numberless  essences  is  comprised  in  a 
mind,  where  always  from  an  essence  a  will  again 
may  arise  according  to  the  property  of  that  essence, 
whence  the  eternal  wonders  spring. 

49.  Seeing  then  the  great  and  strong  mind  of  the 
form  of  anguish  goes  thus  in  itself  as  a  wheel,  and 
continually  breaks  the  stern  attraction,  and  by  the 
sting  brings  into  plurality  of  essences;  but  in 
anguish,  in  the  wheel  disposes  again  into  a  one,  as 
into  a  mind:  therefore  now  the  anguishful  life  is 
born,  viz.  Nature,  where  there  is  a  moving,  driving, 
fleeing  and  holding,  as  also  a  feeling,  tasting  and 
hearing.  And  yet  it  is  not  a  right  life,  but  only 
a  Nature-life  without  a  principle.  For  it  has  no 
growth,  but  is  like  a  frenzy  or  madness,  where 
something  goes  whirling  in  itself  as  a  wheel,  where 
indeed  there  is  a  bond  of  hfe,  but  without  under- 
standing or  knowledge ;  for  it  knows  not  itself. 

50.  Further,  we  are  to  inquire  concerning  the 
other  will  of  the  eternal  Father  which  is  called 
God,  which  in  the  centre  of  its  heart  desires  hght 
and  the  manifestation  of  the  triad  in  wisdom.  This 
will  is  set  or  directed  towards  the  centrum  naturae, 
for  through  Nature  must  the  splendour  of  Majesty 

arise. 

51.  Now,  this  other  will  in  the  Word  of  life  has 


y 


«Wi!i«WMI*»»W*«i« 


'•r"^'-  '*, '    -.^ '  '  jZZ"'  "l^"" — "'-"••^•J^-'i-™^--'-^'^''-'-'*^'-*^^*^ 


26         SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 

freedom  in  itself;  and  the  anguishful  will  in  the 
sharpness  of  Nature  desires  freedom,  that  freedom 
might  be  revealed  in  the  anguish  of  the  fierce  wrath- 
ful mind. 

52.  Whence  then  also  anguish  arises,  that  the 
first  will  wishes  to  be  free  from  the  dark  sourness 
(astringency),  and  freedom  desires  manifestation; 
for  it  cannot  find  itself  in  itself  without  sharpness 
or  pain.  For  the  will  of  freedom,  which  is  called 
Father,  desires  to  manifest  itself,  and  that  it  cannot 
do  without  properties. 

53.  It  is  therefore  desirous  of  properties,  which 
take  their  rise  in  anguish,  in  essences,  in  fire,  thereby 
to  manifest  its  wonders,  power  and  colours,  which 
without  Nature  cannot  be. 

54.  Thus,  the  first  will  (which  is  called  Father, 
and  is  itself  freedom)  desires  Nature,  and  Nature 
with  great  longing  desires  freedom,  that  it  may 
be  released  from  the  torment  of  anguish.  And  it 
receives  freedom  in  its  sharp  fierceness  in  the 
imagination,  at  which  it  is  terrified  as  a  flash;  for 
it  is  a  terror  of  joy  that  it  is  released  from  the 
torment  of  anguish, 

55.  And  in  the  terror  arise  two  beings,  a  mortal 
one  and  a  living  one,  to  be  understood  thus: 

5Q,  The  will  which  is  called  Father,  which  has 
freedom  in  itself,  so  generates  itself  in  Nature, 
that  it  is  susceptible  of  Nature,  and  that  it  is  the 
universal  power  of  Nature. 

57.  The  terror  of  its  Nature  is  a  kindler  of  fire. 
For  when  the  dark  anguish,  as  the  very  fervent, 
stern  being,  receives  freedom  in  itself,  it  is  trans- 


m 


ti 


I 


THE  FIRST  POINT  27 

formed  in  the  terror,  in  freedom,  into  a  flash,  and 
the  flash  embraces  freedom  or  gentleness.  Then 
the  sting  of  death  is  broken;  and  there  rises  in 
Nature  the  other  will  of  the  Father,  which  he  drew 
prior  to  Nature  in  the  mirror  of  wisdom,  viz.  his 
heart  of  love,  the  desu^e  of  love,  the  kingdom  of  joy. 

58.  For  in  the  Father's  will  fire  is  thus  generated, 
to  which  the  other  will  gives  the  power  of  gentle- 
ness and  love.  The  fire  takes  the  love-quality  into 
its  essence,  and  that  is  now  its  food,  so  that  it  burns, 
and  gives  from  the  consumption,  from  the  terror, 
the  joyous  spirit. 

59.  That  is,  here,  the  Holy  Spirit,  who  originally 
prior  to  Nature  is  the  Father's  Will- Spirit,  becomes 
manifest,  and  receives  here  the  power  of  w^onders; 
and  proceeds  thus  from  the  Father  (viz.  from  the 
first  will  to  Nature) ,  from  the  other  will  in  Nature, 
from  fire,  or  from  the  terror  of  joy  in  the  source  of 
love,  into  the  substantiality  of  gentleness. 

60.  For  gentleness  is  also  become  desirous  of  the 
fire's  property,  and  the  desire  draws  the  gentleness 
of  the  kingdom  of  joy  into  itself.  That  is  now  the 
water  of  eternal  life,  which  the  fire  drinks,  and  gives 
therefrom  the  light  of  IVIajesty. 

61.  And  in  the  light  dwells  the  will  of  the  Father 
and  of  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Spirit  is  the  hfe  there- 
in. He  reveals  now  the  power  of  the  gentle  essen- 
tiality in  the  light,  and  that  is  colours,  wonders  and 
virtues. 

62.  And  this  is  called  virgin  Wisdom;  for  it  is 
not  a  genetrix,  neither  itself  reveals  anything,  but 
the  Holy  Spirit  is  the  revealer  of  its  wonders.     It 


28         SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 

is  his  vesture  and  fair  adornment,  and  has  in  it  the 
wonders,  colours  and  virtues  of  the  divine  world; 
it  is  the  house  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  and  the  ornament 
of  the  divine  and  angehc  world.  , 

63.  In  its  colours  and  virtues  the  Holy  Spirit 
has  revealed  the  choii^s  of  angels,  as  well  as  all  the 
marvels  of  created  things,  all  which  have  been 
beheld  from  eternity  in  wisdom;  without  being 
indeed,  but  in  wisdom  as  in  the  mirror,  according 
to  their  figures;  which  figures  have  in  the  motion 
of  the  Father  advanced  into  essence  and  into  a 
creaturely  existence,  all  according  to  the  wonders 
of  wisdom. 

64.  Now,  understand  us  also  concerning  the  other 
being,  where  in  the  terror  Nature  divides  into  two 
beings,  as  mentioned  above:  viz.  one  through  the 
Father's  will  into  fire  or  into  the  fire- world;  and 
one  through  the  Father's  other  will  that  is  drawn 
or  generated  in  himself,  into  the  majestic  light- 
world. 

65.  And  the  other  being,  viz.  the  house  of  terror 
in  itself,  in  death,  in  the  darkness  of  the  hostile 
source  (Qual) ,  which  must  stand  thus  in  order  that 
there  may  be  an  eternal  longing  in  this  anguish  to 
be  freed  from  the  source.  For  this  longing  makes 
the  first  will  to  Nature  eternally  desirous  to  come 
to  the  aid  of  its  being.  Whence  then  in  the 
Father's  will  mercy  arises,  which  enters  with  free- 
dom into  the  anguish,  but  cannot  remain  in  the 
anguish,  but  goes  forth  in  fire  into  the  source  of 
love. 

66.  That  is,  his  other  will,  or  his  heart,  issues  in 


f 


f 
I 


THE  FIRST  POINT  29 

him  as  a  fountain  of  love  and  mercy,  from  whence 
compassion  has  its  origin,  so  that  there  is  a  pity  on 
distress  and  misery,  and  a  sympathy;  viz.  here,  the 
Father's  will,  which  is  free,  reveals  itself  in  the 
fierceness  of  Nature,  so  that  the  fierce  wrathf ulness 
is  mitigated. 

67.  But  nevertheless  on  one  part  the  terrible 
wheel  of  fierceness  continues  independently.  For 
in  the  terror  a  mortification  is  brought  about,  not 
indeed  a  still  death,  but  a  mortal  life;  and  re- 
sembles the  worst  thing,  as  is  an  aqua  fortis  or  a 
poison  in  itself.  For  such  a  thing  must  be,  if  the 
centrum,  naturae  is  to  subsist  eternally. 

68.  And  on  the  other  part  life  proceeds  out  of 
death,  and  death  must  therefore  be  a  cause  of  life. 
Else,  if  there  were  no  such  poisonous,  fierce,  fervent 
source,  fire  could  not  be  generated,  and  there  could 
be  no  essence  nor  fiery  sharpness;  hence  also  there 
would  be  no  light,  and  also  no  finding  of  life. 

69.  The  first  will,  which  is  called  Father,  finds 
itself  thus  in  wonders;  and  the  other  will,  which  is 
called  Son,  finds  itself  thus  in  power.  Moreover, 
thus  also  the  kingdom  of  joy  arises ;  for  if  there  were 
no  pain,  there  were  also  no  joy.  But  this  is  the 
kingdom  of  joy,  that  life  is  delivered  from  anguish, 
although  life  has  its  origin  thus. 

70.  And  therefore  the  creatures  have  poison,  viz. 
a  gall,  for  their  life.  The  gall  is  the  cause  that  there 
is  a  mobility  by  which  life  rises;  for  it  occasions 
fire  in  the  heart,  and  the  right  life  is  fire,  but  it  is 
not  the  figure  of  life. 

71.  From  the  fire-life  springs  the  right  spirit. 


30         SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 

which  goes  forth  from  fire  in  the  hght;  it  is  free 
from  fire  as  air,  which  nevertheless  arises  from 
fire,  is  free  from  fire. 

72.  For  the  right  spirit,  or  in  man  the  spirit  which 
is  generated  from  the  soul's  fire,  has  its  property 
in  the  Light  of  life,  which  burns  from  fire.  For  it 
arises  from  death,  it  proceeds  out  of  death,  the 
hostile  source  has  remained  away  from  it  in  fire, 
and  below  fire,  in  the  cause  of  fire,  viz.  in  fierce 
wrathful  death. 

73.  Fierce  wrathful  death  is  thus  a  root  of  life. 
And  here,  ye  men,  consider  your  death  and  also 
Christ's  death,  who  has  begotten  us  again  out  of 
death  through  the  fire  of  God;  for  out  of  death  is 
the  free  life  born.  Whatever  can  go  out  from 
death  is  released  from  death  and  the  source  of  wrath. 
That  is  now  its  kingdom  of  joy,  that  there  is  no 
longer  any  fierce  source  in  it ;  it  has  remained  away 
from  it  in  death  ( in  the  dark  world) .  And  thus  out 
of  death  life  attains  eternal  freedom,  where  there 
is  no  more  any  fear  or  terror;  for  in  life  the  terror 
is  broken. 

74.  The  right  life  is  a  power  of  joy,  a  perpetual 
well-being  and  pleasing  delight;  for  there  is  no 
pain  in  it,  save  only  a  desire,  which  has  all  the 
property  of  pain,  and  yet  the  pain  cannot  uplift 
itself  in  it  so  as  to  kindle  its  property  therein,  for 
light  and  freedom  hinder  that. 


THE  FIRST  POINT 


31 


CHAPTER  II 

Of   the   proprium    of    the   principle.     What    the 
principle  is,  or  what  they  all  three  are, 

1.  When  life  and  movement  appears,  which  pre- 
viously existed  not,  a  principle  is  present.  Fire  is 
a  principle  with  its  property,  and  light  is  also  a 
principle  with  its  property,  for  it  is  generated  from 
fire,  and  yet  is  not  the  fire's  property.  It  has  also 
its  own  life  in  itself,  but  fire  is  cause  thereof,  and 
the  terrible  anguish  is  a  cause  of  both. 

2.  But  the  will  to  anguish,  which  gives  birth  to 
the  anguishful  nature,  and  which  is  called  Father, 
that  it  is  impossible  to  search  out.  We  inquire 
only  how  it  brings  itself  into  the  highest  perfection, 
into  the  being  of  the  Holy  Trinity;  and  how  it 
manifests  itself  in  three  principles,  and  how  the 
essence  of  each  source  arises ;  what  essence  is,  whence 
life  with  the  senses  has  its  origin,  and  the  wonder 
of  all  beings. 

3.  Thus,  we  recognize  the  third  principle,  or  the 
source  of  this  world,  with  the  stars  and  elements, 
to  be  a  creation  from  the  marvels  of  the  eternal 
wisdom. 

4.  The  third  principle  manifests  the  first  two, 
though  each  is  manifest  in  itself.  But  the  eternal 
Being  has  willed  in  his  wonders,  which  have  been 
beheld  in  wisdom,  to  manifest  himself  in  such  a 


~         ''■  '','f.'^ '''"^'"''aE!^  «-.  ^if 


32         SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 

property,  viz.  according  to  the  ground  of  eternity, 
according  to  the  source  of  wrath  and  of  love ;  and 
has  created  all  into  a  creaturely  and  figurative 
being,  evil  and  good  according  to  the  eternal  origin. 
As  we  plainly  see  that  in  this  world  there  is  evil  and 
good;  of  which,  however,  the  devils  are  a  great 
cause,  who  in  their  creation  have  at  the  fall  moved 
more  vehemently  the  fierce  matrix  in  the  wrath, 
God    having    moved    himself    more    exceedingly 
according  to  the  property  of  wrath,  to  cast  them 
forth  out  of  light  into  the  death  of  fierce  wrath- 
fulness;  whereby  also  the  heavenly  Essence  was 
moved,  so  that  very  much  which  stood  in  freedom 
has  become  shut  up  in  the  earthly  essence. 

5.  As  we  see  in  gold  and  its  tincture,  which  is 
free  from  the  earthly  essence.  For  it  resists  fire 
and  every  quahty,  no  quality  can  hold  it  in  check, 
but  only  God's  will;  and  that  must  come  to  pass 
repeatedly  by  reason  of  the  unworthiness  of  the 

world.  . 

6.  And  if  we  rightly  consider  the  creation  of  this 
world  and  the  spirit  of  the  third  principle,  viz.  the 
spirit  of  the  great  world  with  the  stars  and  elements, 
we  find  therein  the  property  of  the  eternal  world 
as  it  were  mixed,  like  unto  a  great  marvel,  whereby 
God,  the  highest  good,  has  willed  to  manifest  and 
bring  into  being  the  eternal  wonders  which  existed 

in  mystery. 

7.  We  find  good  and  evil,  and  we  tind  in  all 
things  the  centrum  naturae  or  the  torture-chamber. 
But  we  find  especially  the  spirit  of  the  great 
world    in  two    sources,    viz.    in    heat    and    cold. 


THE  FIRST  POINT  83 

Here,  by  cold  we  understand  the  centre  of  the 
sour  sharp  fierceness,  and  by  heat  the  principle 
of  fire,  and  yet  they  have  but  one  origin  from  one 
another. 

8.  Fire  arises  from  the  fierceness  of  the  cold,  and 
cold  from  the  centrum  naturae,  viz.  from  the  sour 
sharp  anguish,  where  the  sourness  (astringency) 
contracts  so  strongly  into  itself  and  makes  sub- 
stance. As  we  are  to  know  that  in  the  motion  of 
the  Father  at  creation  it  has  made  earth  and  stones, 
although  there  was  no  matter  for  this,  but  only 
His  own  being,  which  is  generated  in  two  principles, 
viz.  in  the  light-world  and  world  of  death,  in  two 
desires. 

9.  That  which  the  fierceness  attained  in  the 
motion  became  shaped  into  the  terrestrial  globe. 
And  we  find  therein  a  diversity  of  things,  evil  and 
good;  and  it  often  happens  that  from  the  worst 
may  be  made  the  best,  because  the  centrum  naturae 
is  therein.  If  it  be  brought  into  fire,  the  pure  child 
of  the  eternal  Essence  may  be  extracted  from  it; 
when  it  is  liberated  from  death,  as  is  to  be  seen  in 
gold. 

10.  In  this  world,  however,  we  cannot  attain 
the  eternal  fire,  and  therefore  also  can  develop 
nothing  from  this  principle.  That  is  want  of  the 
eternal  fire,  which  we  do  not  reach  but  in  imagina- 
tion only,  by  which  a  man  has  power  to  lead  life 
out  of  death  and  bring  it  into  the  divine  substan- 
tiality. This  can  be  done  only  in  man ;  but  what  is 
outside  of  man  belongs  to  God,  and  remains  unto 
the  renovation,  to  the  end  of  this  time. 


I' 
\  ■ 


y\ 


34  SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 

11.  And  thus  we  give  you  to  understand  the 
nature  and  property  of  the  principles.  The  first 
Principle  lies  in  the  fire  of  the  will,  and  is  a  cause 
of  the  two  others,  also  of  life  and  understanding; 
and  is  an  upholding  of  Nature,  as  well  as  of  all  the 
properties  of  the  Father. 

12.  The  second  Principle  lies  in  light,  as  in  the 
fire  of  desire.  This  desire  makes  substance  from 
the  property  of  the  first  principle. 

13.  The  first  and  second  principle  are  Father  and 
Son  in  eternity.  One  dwells  in  the  other,  and  yet 
each  retains  its  property.  There  is  no  mixing  in 
the  essence;  but  one  receives  the  other  in  desire, 
and  the  hght  dwells  in  the  fire's  desire,  so  that  the 
fire's  property  gives  its  desire  to  the  light,  and  the 
light  to  the  fire. 

14.  Thus  there  is  one  being  and  not  two,  but 
two  properties,  whereof  one  is  not  the  other,  nor 
eternally  can  become  so.  As  the  spirit's  property 
cannot  be  fire  and  hght,  and  yet  proceeds  from 
fire  out  of  light,  and  could  not  subsist  either  from 
fire  or  from  light  alone.  Fire  alone  can  not  give 
it,  neither  could  light,  but  the  two  give  it.  It  is 
the  life  of  both,  and  is  one  being  only,  but  three 
properties,  whereof  one  is  not  the  other,  as  is  to 
be  seen  in  fire,  light  and  air. 

15.  The  third  Principle  has  just  these  properties. 
It  has  also  fire,  light  and  spirit,  that  is,  air;  and 
is  in  all  particulars  like  to  the  eternal  Being.  But 
it  has  a  beginning,  and  proceeds  from  the  Eternal ; 
it  is  a  manifestation  of  the  Eternal,  an  awakening, 
imaffe  and  similitude  of  the  Eternal.     It  is  not  the 


THE  FIRST  POINT  35 

Eternal;  but  an  essence  has  arisen  in  the  eternal 
Desire,  which  has  manifested  itself  therein  and 
brought  itself  into  a  being  like  the  Eternal. 

16.  Reason  says:  God  has  made  this  world  out 
of  nothing.  Answer :  There  was  certainly  for  that 
no  substance  or  matter  that  were  outwardly  pal- 
pable; but  there  was  such  a  form  in  the  eternal 
power  in  the  will. 

17.  The  creation  of  this  world  was  brought  about 
by  an  awakening  of  the  Will-spirit.  The  inner 
will,  which  exists  within  in  itself,  has  stirred  up  its 
own  nature,  as  the  centre,  which,  passing  out  of 
itself,  is  desirous  of  the  light  which  is  pressing  forth 
from  the  centre.  Thus  the  centre  has  seized  out 
of  itself  a  being  in  desire;  that  is,  it  has  seized 
or  made  for  itself  being  in  its  own  imagination 
in  desire,  and  has  also  laid  hold  of  the  light's 
nature. 

18.  It  has  with  the  beginning  laid  hold  of  the 
Eternal;  and  therefore  the  beings  of  this  world 
must  enter  by  figure  again  into  the  Eternal,  for 
they  have  been  apprehended  in  the  Eternal.  But 
whatever  was  made  or  seized  from  the  beginning 
in  desire,  that  returns  into  its  aether  as  into  the 
nothing,  merely  into  the  mirror  of  imagination 
again.  That  is  not  of  the  Eternal,  but  is  and  be- 
longs to  the  eternal  Magic  in  desire.  Like  as  a  fire 
swallows  up  and  consumes  a  substance  whereof 
nothing  remains,  but  becomes  again  as  it  was  when 
as  yet  it  was  no  substance. 

19.  And  thus  we  give  you  to  understand  what 
this   world's   existence   is.     Nothing   else   than   a 


36  SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 

coagulated  smoke  from  the  eternal  aether,  which 
thus  has  a  fulfilment  like  the  Eternal.  It  shuts 
itself  in  a  centrum,  of  a  substance,  and  finally  con- 
sumes itself  again;  and  returns  again  into  the 
eternal  Magic,  and  is  but  for  a  while  a  wonder  as  a 
revelation  of  the  Eternal,  whereby  the  Eternal, 
which  is  manifest  in  itself,  manifests  itself  also  out 
of  itself,  and  pours  out  its  imagination;  and  thus 
renews  that  which  was  seized  or  made  by  the  motion 
in  desire,  that  the  end  may  again  enter  into  the 
beginning. 

20.  For  nothing  can  enter  into  the  freedom  of 
the  Eternal,  except  it  be  like  the  Eternal,  subsist  in 
the  fire  of  the  will,  and  be  as  subtle  as  the  light's  sub- 
stantiality, that  is,  as  a  water  which  can  dwell  in  a 
being  wherein  the  light  can  dwell,  and  convey  its 
lustre  through.  This  is  not  laid  hold  of  by  the 
centrum  naturae^  and  though  it  be  the  property  of 
Nature,  yet  it  is  something  eternal. 

21.  Thus  we  give  you  to  understand  that  all 
that  is  born  in  this  world,  which  has  substance, 
which  proceeds  not  from  the  eternal  Essence, 
inherits  not  the  Eternal;  but  its  figure  persists 
magically  in  the  eternal  Mystery,  for  it  went  origin- 
ally at  creation  out  of  the  Eternal.  But  its  body 
and  the  entire  substance  of  the  source  passes  away, 
as  a  smoke  is  consumed;  for  it  is  from  the  begin- 
ning, and  goeth  into  the  end. 

22.  But  whatever  arises  from  the  eternal  Essence, 
from  the  essentiality  of  the  eternal  Light,  cannot 
pass  away.  That  only  in  it  perishes,  which,  pro- 
ceeding from  the  temporal,  has  entered  into  the 


THE  FIRST  POINT  37 

Eternal ;  as  the  outer  flesh,  which  through  imagina- 
tion was  in  man  introduced  into  the  Eternal;  that 
must  be  consumed  like  smoke. 

23.  But  whatever  originating  from  the  eternal 
Imagination  is  re-introduced  into  the  Eternal, 
persists  eternally ;  and  that  which  is  born  from  the 
Eternal  (understand,  from  the  Eternal  Nature), 
and  is  in  man  the  soul,  remains  eternally,  for  it  has 
arisen  from  the  Eternal. 

24.  But  if  something  be  born  from  the  eternal 
centre  of  wrath,  that  may  enter  into  its  renovation, 
if  it  will.  As  the  Eternal  Nature  of  the  essence 
of  external  Nature  renews  itself,  and  abandons  that 
which  it  made  in  the  beginning,  and  retains  only 
the  magical  image  which  it  brought  out  of  the 
eternal  will  into  the  outward  by  the  Verhum  Fiat 
at  creation;  so  may  man  also  renew  that  which  he 
makes.  If  he  abandon  the  earthly,  then  he  may 
renew  that  which  he  has  progenerated  from  the 
Eternal ;  but  if  it  be  not  renewed,  it  remains  in  the 

source. 

25.  For  all  that  becomes  not  or  is  not  as  fire, 
light  and  water,  cannot  subsist  in  freedom,  but 
remains  in  the  source  of  that  which  it  has  awakened 
or  made  in  itself, — understand,  from  the  centrum 
naturae.  Whatever  it  has  introduced  into  the  will 
of  freedom  will  thus  be  for  it  a  torment  and  gnaw- 

.ing,  or  contrary  opposite  will,  which  it  has  generated 
from  its  own  nature,  by  which  it  has  made  freedom 
dark  for  itself,  so  that  the  light  cannot  shine 
through.     That  will  be  its  darkness. 

26.  For  where  the  will  is  dark,  there  also  the  being 


*^-M»*<^««i»-^t«fA«»"'<«'9»S«»4^.«mJiW  '■=' 


38  SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 

of  the  will,  or  its  body,  is  dark ;  and  where  the  will 
is  in  torment,  there  also  the  body  is  in  torment. 
For  which  cause  the  children  of  the  light  of  free- 
dom will  be  separated  in  the  source  of  anguish  from 
the  children  of  darkness,  each  into  its  principle. 

27.  Further,  we  give  you  to  understand  that  each 
principle  generates  its  own  life  according  to  its 
property.  But  fire  is  the  bound  of  separation 
which  satisfies  the  two  eternal  principles,  darkness 
and  light.  To  the  darkness  it  gives  its  sting  and 
the  pang,  and  to  the  hght  its  sensibility  and  life. 

28.  So  also  the  third  Principle  has  two  properties, 
viz.  heat  and  cold.  Heat  is  the  principle,  and  gives 
its  sting  and  pang  to  the  cold;  and  to  the  light 
it  gives  hfe  and  sensibility.  The  light  in  its  turn 
gives  its  substantiahty  to  the  fire,  so  that  it  is 
united  amicably  with  it.  The  cold  gives  also  its 
property  and  substantiality  to  the  fire,  and  the 
fire  breaks  this,  and  makes  from  its  substantiality 
death  and  a  dying.  There  is  always,  therefore,  an 
enmity  between  heat  and  cold,  and  they  are  never 

at  one. 

29.  But  this  thev  attain  in  their  enmity,  that 
life  buds  through  death;  for  from  heat  and  cold 
arises  the  growth  of  the  third  principle  (in  which 
we  live  outwardly).  From  cold  there  comes  fruit 
out  of  the  earth,  as  well  as  the  body  of  all  creatures, 
and,  in  the  elements,  substance.  From  heat  there 
comes  in  its  contention  life  into  the  body  of  all 
creatures  and  plants;  as  also  in  the  deep  of  the 
elements  it  gives  the  spirit  of  the  great  world 
in   diversity   of   figures.     That    is   to   say,    where 


\ 


i^i; 


THE  FIRST  POINT  39 

cold  makes  substance,  there  heat  makes  a  spirit. 

30.  Thus  is  the  Essence  all  in  wrestling  combat, 
that  the  wonders  of  the  eternal  world  may  become 
manifest  in  fragility,  and  that  the  eternal  exemplar 
in  the  wisdom  of  God  may  be  brought  into  figures. 
And  that  these  models  in  the  eternal  INIagic,  in 
Mystery,  may  stand  eternally  to  God's  glory,  and 
for  the  joy  of  angels  and  men;  not  indeed  in  being, 
but  in  INIystery,  in  Magic,  as  a  shadow  of  being, 
that  it  may  be  eternally  known  what  God  has 
wrought,  and  what  he  can  and  is  able  to  do. 

31.  For,  after  the  dissolution  of  this  world,  there 
remains  in  existence  only  what  is  eternal,  as  eternal 
spirits  with  the  eternal  substantiality  of  their  bodies, 
together  with  the  wonders  wrought  here,  which 
stand  in  figure  magically,  by  which  the  spirits  will 
recognize  the  might  and  marvels  of  God. 

32.  We  are  now  to  consider  the  principles  with 
their  wonders.  These  are  all  three  none  else  than 
the  one  God  in  his  wonderful  works,  who  has 
manifested  himself  by  this  world  according  to  the 
property  of  his  nature.  And  we  are  thus  to  under- 
stand a  threefold  Being,  or  three  worlds  in  one 
another. 

33.  The  first  is  the  fire-world,  which  takes  its 
rise  from  the  centrum  naturae,  and  Nature  from  the 
desiring  will,  which  in  eternal  freedom  has  its  origin 
in  the  unground,  whereof  we  have  not  nor  support 
any  knowledge. 

34.  And  the  second  is  the  Hght-world  which 
dwells  in  freedom  in  the  unground,  out  of  Nature, 
but  proceeds  from  the  fire-world.     It  receives  its 


^^tKHfm^fkpntfi^^  liipmiira-  III  wiipiw^^       .  jwciiwi»wii^%i<ijnjyym 


dMsaKitoKi^'  ■■;  -^v^-tmiK'i^"^-- 


40  SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 

life  and  sensibility  from  fire.  It  dwells  in  fire,  and 
the  fire  apprehends  it  not.  And  this  is  the  middle 
world. 

35.  Fire  in  the  centrum  naturae  before  its  en- 
kindling gives  the  dark  world;  but  is  in  its  enkin- 
dling in  itself  the  world  of  light,  when  it  separates 
into  light  and  leaves  the  centre  in  darkness,  for  it 
is  onlv  a  source  in  itself,  and  a  cause  of  life. 

36.  It  has  creatures,  but  they  are  of  the  same 
fierce  essence.  They  feel  no  pain;  to  them  the 
light  were  a  pain.  But  to  the  fallen  devils,  who  in 
the  principle  were  created  in  the  world  of  light, 
to  them  the  darkness  is  a  pain,  and  fire  a  strength 
or  might,  for  it  is  their  right  life,  although  according 
to  many  properties,  by  virtue  of  the  centrum  nat- 
urae, in  accordance  with  that  essence. 

37.  The  third  world  is  the  outer,  in  which  we 
dwell  by  the  outer  body  with  the  external  works 
and  beings.  It  was  created  from  the  dark  world 
and  also  from  the  light-world,  and  therefore  it  is 
evil  and  good,  terrible  and  lovely.  Of  this  property 
Adam  was  not  to  eat,  nor  imaginate  thereinto; 
but  the  three  worlds  were  to  stand  in  him  in  order, 
that  one  might  not  comprehend  the  other,  as  in  God 
himself.  For  Adam  was  created  from  all  the  three 
worlds,  an  entire  image  and  similitude  of  God. 

38.  But  seeing  he  has  eaten  of  evil  and  good,  and 
introduced  the  outer  into  the  middle,  the  outer 
must  now  break  off  from  the  middle ;  and  a  separa- 
tion takes  place,  in  which  the  outer  must  return 
into  its  aether,  and  the  middle  remains. 

39.  Thus,  if  one  see  a  right  man,  he  may  say: 


THE  FIRST  POINT  41 

I  see  here  three  worlds  standing,  but  not  moving. 
For  the  outer  world  moves  by  the  outer  body,  but 
the  outer  body  has  no  power  to  move  the  light- 
world;  it  has  only  introduced  itself  into  the  world 
of  light,  whereby  the  light-world  is  become  extin- 
guished in  man.  He  has,  however,  remained  to 
be  the  dark  world  in  himself;  and  the  light-world 
stands  in  him  immoveable,  it  is  in  him  as  it  were 
hidden. 

40.  But  if  he  be  a  right  man  by  the  new  birth, 
then  it  stands  in  him  as  light  shines  through  water, 
and  makes  the  essence  mobile  and  desireful,  so  that 
the  essence  buds.  Thus  it  is  with  the  new  man  in 
the  Light.  And  as  we  cannot  move  the  light  of  the 
sun,  so  neither  can  we  move  the  eternal  Light  or 
the  hght-world.  It  stands  still  and  shines  through 
everything  that  is  susceptible  of  it,  whatsoever  is 
thin  like  a  nothing,  as  indeed  fire  and  water  are; 
though  all  is  substantial,  but  in  reference  to  the 
external  as  a  nothing. 

41.  Thus  each  principle  has  its  growth  from 
itself;  and  that  must  be,  else  all  were  a  nothing. 

42.  The  principle  of  fire  is  the  root,  and  it  grows 
in  its  root.  It  has  in  its  proprium  sour,  bitter, 
fierceness  and  anguish;  and  these  grow  in  its 
proprium  in  poison  and  death  into  the  anguishful 
stern  hfe,  which  in  itself  gives  darkness,  owing  to 
the  drawing-in  of  the  harshness.  Its  properties 
make  sulphur,  mercury  and  salt;  though  the  fire's 
property  makes  not  Sul  in  sulphur,  but  the  will  of 
freedom  makes  Sul  in  Phur,  whilst  the  principle 
goes  forward. 


42         SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 

43.  But  what  advances  into  its  properties  is  only 
Phur,  viz.  sternness,  with  the  other  forms  in  the 
centre.  This  is  the  chief  cause  of  Ufe  and  of  the 
being  of  all  things.  Though  it  is  bad  in  itself,  yet 
it  is  the  most  useful  of  all  to  life  and  the  manifesta- 
tion of  life.  For  there  could  be  no  life  without  this 
property,  and  this  principle  is  gi'ounded  in  the 
internal  and  external  world;  in  the  internal  as 
imperceptible,  in  the  external  perceptible  by  its 
fierceness. 

44.  The  second  Principle  has  also  its  growth  from 
itself,  for  fire  streams  forth  in  light  with  its  pro- 
perties. But  the  Light  transforms  the  fierce  wrath- 
ful properties  into  a  desire  of  love  and  joy.  And 
therefore  the  fire's  essence  and  property  is  wholly 
transformed  in  the  Light,  so  that  out  of  anguish 
and  pain  comes  a  love-desire,  out  of  the  stinging 
and  raging  a  friendfy  sensible  understanding. 

45.  For  the  Light  kindles  the  essences  with  the 
quality  of  love,  so  that  they  give  from  themselves 
a  growth  in  the  property  of  the  spirit:  viz.  a  friendly 
will,  morality,  piety,  patience  in  suffering,  hope 
to  be  delivered  from  evil;  continually  speaking  of 
God's  wonderful  works  in  desire  and  joy,  ringing 
forth,  singing  and  rejoicing  in  the  works  and  won- 
ders of  God ;  always  desiring  to  do  right,  to  hinder 
evil  and  wickedness;  always  wishing  to  draw  one's 
neighbour  by  love  into  the  world  of  light;  fleeing 
from  evil;  always  subduing  the  evil  affections  with 
patience,  in  hope  of  being  released  therefrom; 
rejoicing  in  the  hope  of  that  which  the  eyes  see 
not  and  external  Reason  knows  not;  continually 


THE  FIRST  POINT  43 

pressing  forth  out  of  evil,  and  introducing  the  desire 
into  the  divine  Being;  always  wishing  to  eat  of 
God's  bread. 

46.  These  properties  hath  the  new  man  who  is 
born  again  from  the  light-world.  These  are  his 
fruits,  which  the  light-world  continually  brings  forth 
in  him  quite  hiddenly  to  the  old  Adam,  and  continu- 
ally mortifies  the  old  Adam  of  this  world,  and  is 
always  in  combat  with  him.  Which  old  Adam 
must  therefore  follow  the  new  man;  in  sooth  like 
a  lazy  ass  which  is  obliged  to  carry  the  sack,  his 
master  continually  lashing  him  on.  Thus  doth  the 
new  man  to  the  old;  he  compels  him,  so  that  he 
must  do  what  he  would  fain  not  do.  What  pertains 
to  the  joy  of  this  world  were  more  acceptable  to  the 
old  ass;  but  he  must  thus  be  the  servant. 

47.  Secondly,  the  principle  has  its  growth,  and 
gives  its  fruit  to  the  third  principle  generally,  viz. 
to  the  spirit  of  the  great  world,  so  that  the  external 
and  internal  turba  are  held  in  check.  It  presses 
through  and  gives  f ruitf ulness ;  it  stays  the  fierce- 
ness of  the  stars,  and  breaks  the  constellation  of 
the  spirits  and  also  of  the  firmamental  heaven. 
It  resists  the  wrath  of  the  devil  and  the  devices  of 
wicked  men,  so  far  however  as  there  are  found  saints 
who  are  worthy  of  it.  < 

48.  The  third  Principle  has  also  its  growth;  and 
therein  were  generated  and  created  from  what  is 
inward  the  stars  and  elements,  which  in  this  place 
together  with  the  sun  are  called  the  third  principle. 
For  the  two  inward  worlds,  viz.  the  fire-world  and 
light-world,  have  manifested  themselves  by  the  third  , 


/ 


44  SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 

principle ;  and  all  is  mixed  together,  good  and  evil, 
love  and  enmity,  life  and  death.  In  every  life 
there  is  death  and  fire;  also,  contrariwise,  a  desire 
of  love,  all  according  to  the  property  of  the  internal 
world.  And  two  kinds  of  fruit  grow  therefrom, 
evil  and  good;  and  each  fruit  has  both  properties. 
They  show  themselves  moreover  in  every  life  in 
this  world,  so  that  wrath  and  the  evil  quality  are 
always  fighting  against  love,  each  property  seeking 
and  bearing  fruit.  What  the  good  makes,  that 
the  evil  destroys;  and  what  the  evil  makes,  that 
the  good  destroys.  It  is  a  perpetual  war  and 
contention,  for  the  properties  of  both  the  inward 
principles  are  active  externally;  each  bears  and 
produces  fruit  to  the  internal  kingdom,  each  will 
be  lord. 

49.  Cold,  as  the  issue  from  the  inward  centre, 
from  the  fierceness  of  death,  will  be  lord,  and  be 
continually  shutting  up  in  death ;  it  always  awakens 
the  sting  of  death.  And  heat,  as  the  issue  from  the 
right  fire,  will  also  be  lord;  it  would  subdue  and 
consmne  all,  and  will  be  always  crude  or  unfash- 
ioned,  without  a  body.  It  is  a  spirit,  and  desires 
only  a  spirit-Hfe.  It  gives  sting  to  the  cold,  for 
oftentimes  it  kills  it,  so  that  it  must  forego  its  right 
and  surrender  itself  to  the  heat. 

50.  In  the  same  way  the  sun,  or  the  light,  will 
also  have  reason  and  be  lord.  It  overcomes  heat 
and  cold,  for  it  makes  in  its  lucid  gentleness  water, 
and  introduces  in  the  light's  spirit  a  friendly  spirit, 
viz.  the  air;  although  fire  gives  the  force  of  the 
wind,  and  the  sun  the  gentle  spirit  which  is  properly 


THE  FIRST  POINT  45 

called  air.  It  is  indeed  one,  but  has  two  properties, 
one  according  to  the  fire,  as  a  terrible  uplifting,  and 
one  according  to  the  light,  as  a  gentle  life. 

51.  The  external  principle  is  thus  a  perpetual 
war  and  contention,  a  building  and  breaking;  what 
the  sun  or  the  light  builds,  that  the  cold  destroys, 
and  the  fire  consumes  it  entirely. 

52.  In  this  struggle  its  growth  rises  in  mere 
combat  and  disunion ;  the  one  draws  out  of  the  earth 
its  fruitfulness,  the  other  destroys  or  swallows  it  up 
again. 

53.  In  all  animals  it  causes  malice  and  strife ;  for 
all  animals  and  all  the  life  of  this  world,  except  man, 
is  only  a  fruit  of  the  third  principle  and  possesses 
only  the  life  of  the  third  principle,  both  its  spirit 
and  body  are  only  this.  And  all  that  moves  in 
this  world,  and  man  by  his  spirit  and  visible  body  in 
flesh  and  blood,  is  also  only  the  fruit  of  this  same 
essence,  and  nothing  else  at  all. 

54.  But  seeing  he  has  in  himself  also  the  two 
inward  worlds  (which  give  him  the  right  under- 
standing, discernment  and  disposition;  which  also 
during  this  time  of  the  earthly  and  elemental  body 
are  in  conflict  with  one  another),  let  him  therefore 
take  heed;  the  world  that  he  makes  lord  in  him, 
the  same  will  eternally  be  lord  in  him.  During 
this  time  he  can  break,  and  no  farther.  When  the 
outward  breaks,  then  all  stands  in  its  aether.  The 
soul  is  free,  and  is  the  punctum,  and  has  the  under- 
standing; it  may  incline  whither  it  will  and  may 
support  which  principle  it  pleases;  the  aether  into 
which  it  enters,  there  it  is  eternally. 


46  SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 

55,  And  thus  we  understand  the  foundation  of 
the  three  principles  (hke  as  the  tongue  of  the  beam 
of  a" balance)  ;  what  God  and  eternity  is  and  is  able 
to  do,  and  what  growth  each  principle  gives  from 
itself,  from  its  property,  and  how  we  are  to  investi- 
gate the  ground  of  Nature. 


Thus  the  first  part  or  point  is  completed. 


THE  SECOND  POINT 

Of  the  mixed  tree  of  evil  and  good,  or  the  life 
of  the  three  principles  in  one  another; 
how  they  unite  and  agree. 

CHAPTER  III 

1.  In  God's  kingdom,  viz.  in  the  light-world,  no 
more  than  one  principle  is  truly  known.  For  the 
Light  rules,  and  the  other  sources  and  properties 
all  exist  hiddenly  as  a  mystery;  for  they  must 
all  serve  the  Light,  and  give  their  will  to  the  Light. 
And  therefore  the  wrath-essence  is  transformed  in 
the  Light  into  a  desire  of  light  and  of  love,  into 
gentleness. 

2.  Although  the  properties,  viz.  sour,  bitter, 
anguish  and  the  sharp  pang  in  fire  remain  eternally 
even  in  the  light-world,  yet  none  of  them  is  mani- 
fest in  its  property;  but  they  are  all  of  them 
together  only  causes  of  Hfe,  mobility  and  joy. 

3.  That  which  in  the  dark  world  is  a  pang,  is  in 
the  light- world  a  pleasing  delight ;  and  what  in  the 
dark  is  a  stinging  and  enmity,  is  in  the  light  an 
uplifting  joy.  And  that  which  in  the  dark  is  a  fear, 
terror  and  trembling,  is  in  the  light  a  shout  of  joy,  a 
ringing  forth  and  singing.  And  that  could  not  be, 
if  originally  there  were  no  such  fervent,  austere 
source. 

47 


48  SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 

4.  The  dark  world  is  therefore  the  ground  and 
origin  of  the  hght-world ;  and  the  terrible  evil  must 
be  a  cause  of  the  good,  and  all  is  God's. 

5.  But  the  hght-world  is  only  called  God;  and 
the  principle  between  the  light-world  and  dark 
world  is  called  God's  anger  and  fierce  wrath.  If 
this  be  awakened,  as  by  the  devil  and  all  wicked 
men,  these  are  then  abandoned  of  the  Light  and 
fall  into  the  dark  world. 

6.  The  dark  world  is  called  death  and  hell,  the 
abyss,  a  sting  of  death,  despair,  self-enmity  and 
sorrowfulness;  a  Ufe  of  mahce  and  falsehood,  in 
which  the  truth  and  the  light  is  not  seen  and  is  not 
known.  Therein  dwell  the  devils  and  the  damned 
souls;  also  the  hellish  worms,  which  the  Fiat  of 
death  has  figui'ed  in  the  motion  of  the  omnipresent 

Lord. 

7.  For  hell  hath  in  the  darkness  the  greatest 
constellation  of  the  fervent,  austere  power.  With 
them  all  is  audible  as  a  loud  noise.  What  rings  in 
the  Light,  knocks  and  thumps  in  the  Dark,  as  is 
to  be  seen  in  the  thing  men  use  to  strike  upon, 
that  it  gives  a  ringing  sound.  For  the  sound  is  not 
the  thing ;  as  a  bell  that  is  rung  is  itself  not  a  sound, 
but  only  a  hardness  and  a  cause  of  the  sound.  The 
bell  receives  the  stroke  as  a  knocking,  and  from  the 
hard  knocking  proceeds  the  ringing  sound.  The 
reason  is  this,  that  in  the  matter  of  the  bell  there  is 
an  element,  which,  at  creation,  in  the  motion  of  the 
omnipresent  God,  was  shut  up  in  the  hardness;  as 
is  to  be  seen  in  the  metalline  tincture,  if  men  would 
not  be  so  mad  and  blind. 


THE  SECOND  POINT  49 

8.  We  recognize,  then,  that  in  hell,  in  the  abyss, 
there  are  many  and  divers  spirits,  not  only  devils, 
but  many  hellish  worms  according  to  the  property 
of  their  constellation,  and  void  of  understanding. 
As  in  this  world  there  are  irrational  animals — 
worms,  toads  and  serpents — so  has  also  the  abyss 
such  in  the  fierce  wrathful  world.  For  all  willed 
to  be  creaturely,  and  is  gone  into  a  being,  so  that 
the  wrath-mirror  also  exhibited  its  wonders  and 
manifested  itself. 

9.  There  is  indeed  no  feeling  of  pain  in  the  hellish 
worms,  for  they  are  of  the  same  essence  and  prop- 
erty. It  is  their  life,  and  is  a  nature  that  is  hidden 
to  the  outer  world;  but  the  Spirit  of  God  who  in 
all  three  principles  is  himself  the  source  in  accord- 
ance with  each  property,  he  knows  it  and  reveals  it 
to  whom  he  will. 

10.  If  now  we  would  say  how  the  three  principles 
are  united  together,  we  must  place  fire  in  the  middle 
as  the  highest  force,  which  brings  to  each  principle 
a  satisfying  life  and  a  spirit  that  it  requires.  There 
is,  therefore,  in  the  principles  no  strife;  for  fire 
is  the  life  of  all  the  principles, — understand,  the 
cause  of  life,  not  the  life  itself.  To  the  abyss  it 
gives  its  pang,  viz.  the  sting,  so  that  death  finds 
itself  in  a  life;  else  the  abvss  were  a  stillness.  It 
gives  it  its  fierceness,  which  is  the  lift,  mobility  and 
original  condition  of  the  abyss;  else  there  were  a 
still  eternity  and  a  nothing. 

11.  And  to  the  light-world  fire  gives  also  its 
essence,  else  there  were  no  feeling  nor  light  therein, 
and  all  were  onlv  one.     And  yet  bevond  fire  a 


50  SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 

Nothing,  as  an  eye  of  wonders  that  knew  not 
itself,  in  which  were  no  understanding;  but  an 
eternal  hiddenness,  where  no  seeking  or  doing  were 
possible. 

12.  And  to  the  third  principle,  viz.  to  the  king- 
dom of  this  world,  fire  gives  also  its  essence  and 
quality,  whereby  all  life  and  growth  rises.  All 
sense,  and  whatever  is  to  come  to  anything,  must 
have  fire.  There  springs  nothing  out  of  the  earth 
without  the  essence  of  fire.  It  is  a  cause  of  all 
the  three  principles,  and  of  all  that  can  be  named. 

13.  Thus  fire  makes  a  union  of  all  the  three 
principles,  and  is  for  each  the  cause  of  being.  One 
principle  fights  not  against  another,  but  the  essence 
of  each  desires  only  its  own,  and  is  always  in  com- 
bat; and  if  that  were  not,  then  all  were  a  still 
nothingness.  Each  principle  gives  to  the  other  its 
power  and  form,  and  there  is  a  perpetual  peace 
between  them. 

\  14.  The  dark  world  has  the  great  pain  and 
anguish  which  gives  birth  to  fire,  so  that  the  will 
longs  after  freedom,  and  freedom  longs  after  mani- 
festation, viz.  after  essences,  and  gives  itself  to 
fierceness  that  it  may  thus  manifest  itself.  And  it 
is  brought  thus  into  fire,  so  that  from  fierceness  and 
freedom  a  fire  arises.  It  gives  itself  to  fierceness 
to  swallow  up  in  death ;  but  passes  out  of  death  with 
the  received  essences  into  a  sphere  of  its  own,  as 
into  a  special  world  or  source ;  and  dwells  in  itself 
unapprehended  by  death  and  the  dark  world,  and 
is  a  light  in  itself. 

15.  Thus  are  death  and  fierceness  a  mother  of 


THE  SECOND  POINT  51 

fire,  also  a  cause  of  the  light-world ;  a  cause,  more- 
over, of  all  the  essence  of  the  third  principle,  a 
cause  of  all  the  essences  in  all  lives.  How  then 
should  one  principle  fight  against  another,  if  each 
vehemently  desires  the  other? 

16.  For  the  angelic  light-world,  and  also  this  our 
visible  world,  must  have  the  essence  of  dark  death 
for  their  life  and  source ;  there  is  a  continual  hunger 

after  it. 

17.  But  each  principle  makes  the  source  accord- 
ing to  its  property.  It  gives  to  the  evil  its  good, 
and  unites  itself  with  it,  and  of  three  makes  one, 
so  that  there  is  no  strife  between  the  three  principles. 
But  in  the  essence  there  is  strife;  and  that  must 
be,  or  all  were  a  nothing. 

18.  But  we  are  to  consider  whence  enmity  has. 
its  origin.  God  has  in  each  principle  created 
creatures  from  the  nature  and  proprium  of  the 
principle,  therein  to  remain.  And  if  they  remain 
not  therein,  but  introduce  another  thing  by  their 
imagination  into  themselves,  into  their  property, 
that  is  an  enmity  and  torment  to  them,  as  to  the 

*  devil  and  fallen  man.  Both  these  are  gone  out 
from  the  light-world;  the  devil  into  the  abyss  of 
the  strong  wrath-power  through  pride,  and  man 
into  this  world,  into  the  mystery  of  multiscience, 
as  into  the  wonders. 

19.  And  now  man  has  a  difficulty  and  struggle 
to  come  out  again;  and  this  world,  into  which  he 
has  entered,  holds  him,  for  it  will  have  him;  and  if 
he  go  out  from  it  by  force,  it  becomes  hostile  to  him, 
assails  him,  and  will  not  suffer  him  in  itself. 


52  SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 

20.  Hence  it  is  that  the  children  of  this  world 
do  hate,  vex,  strike,  kill  and  drive  from  them  the 
children  of  light,  for  the  spirit  of  this  world  impels 
them  thereto.  To  which  also  the  devil  helps,  for 
he  knows  that  this  world  rests  upon  the  abyss,  and 
that  he  will  receive  the  children  of  this  world  at 
the  dissolution  of  this  Mystery  into  his  kingdom. 
Therefore  he  drives  the  children  of  God  from  this 
world,  lest  they  introduce  his  children  of  this  world 
along  with  them  into  the  world  of  light. 

21.  But  if  man  had  been  created  for  this  world, 
he  would  certainly  let  him  alone ;  but  he  continually 
desires  to  recapture  his  royal  seat  which  he  had,  and 
from  which  he  was  cast  out ;  and  if  he  may  in  no  wise 
obtain  it,  he  would  deny  it  to  the  children  who  are 
to  possess  it. 

22.  Now  this  is  for  man  highly  to  consider,  and 
not  to  be  so  blind.  Every  man  has  entered  into 
the  mystery  of  this  world;  but  he  should  not  there- 
fore as  a  prisoner  enter  also  into  the  earthly  craving 
of  the  confining  of  death,  but  should  be  a 
discerner  and  knower  of  the  Mystery,  and  not 
the  devil's  butt  and  fool.  He  should  by  the 
imagination  continually  go  out  again  into  the  light- 
world  for  which  he  was  created,  in  order  that  the 
light  may  give  him  lustre,  that  he  may  know 
himself  and  see  the  outer  Mystery.  Then  he  is 
a  man.  But  if  not,  he  is  the  devil's  fool  and  the 
ape  of  the  light-world.  Just  as  an  ape  will  be 
knowing  and  play  with  everything,  and  imitate 
everything,  so  it  is  with  the  earthly  man,  who  is  but 
an  ape.     His  jugghng  tricks  with  the  light- world, 


THE  SECOND  POINT  53 

when  he  presses  not  thereinto  with  earnestness, 
but  only  plays  therewith, — this  the  devil  derides, 
and  accounts  him  a  fool.  And  so  he  is;  he  is  an 
animal-man.  Go  long  as  he  is  attached  with  his 
will  to  the  external,  and  regards  this  world's  good 
as  his  treasure,  he  is  only  a  man  with  this  world's  ■ 
essence,  and  not  with  the  essence  of  God's  light- 
world;  and  he  gives  his  body  to  this  world  or  to 
the  earth,  and  his  soul  to  the  abyss  of  the  dark 
world. 

23.  Thus  we  give  you  to  understand  that  in  the 
tree  of  the  three  principles,  these  agree  very  well 
together,  but  not  the  creatures;  for  the  creatures 
of  each  principle  desire  not  the  others.  And  there 
is  a  strong  bar  and  closure  between  them,  so  that  we 
know  not,  nor  shall  we  see  the  others. 

24.  But  the  devil's  envy  wars  against  the  human 
race,  for  they  have  possessed  his  seat.  Therefore 
it  is  said ;  Man,  seek  thyself,  and  see  what  thou  art, 
and  beware  of  the  devil.  So  much  on  the  second 
point,  how  the  three  principles  can  agree  unitedly 
together. 


THE  THIRD  POINT 

Of  the  origin  of  contrariety  in  growth,  in 
that  life  becomes  strifeful  in  itself. 

CHAPTER  IV 

1.  A  thing  that  is  one,  that  has  only  one  will, 
contends  not  against  itself.  But  where  there  are 
many  wills  in  a  thing,  they  become  contending, 
for  each  would  go  its  own  conceived  way.  But  if 
one  be  lord  of  the  other,  and  has  entirely  full  power 
over  all  the  others,  so  that  it  can  break  them  if 
they  obey  it  not;  then  the  thing's  multiphcity 
has  its  existence  in  one  reality,  for  the  multitude 
of  wills  all  give  themselves  to  obedience  of  their 

lord. 

2.  And  thus  we  give  you  to  understand  life's 
contrariety,  for  life  consists  of  many  wills.  Every 
essence  may  carry  with  it  a  will,  and  indeed  does  so. 
For  sour,  bitter,  anguish  and  acid  is  a  contrarious 
source,  each  having  its  own  property,  and  wholly 
adverse  one  to  the  other.  So  is  fire  the  enemy  of 
all  the  others,  for  it  puts  each  source  into  great 
anguish,  so  that  there  is  a  great  opposition  between 
them,  the  one  being  hostile  to  the  other,  as  is  to 
be  seen  in  heat  and  cold,  fire  and  water,  life  and 
death. 

3.  So  likewise  the  hfe  of  man  is  at  enmity  with 

54 


THE  THIRD  POINT  55 

itself.  Each  form  is  hostile  to  the  other,  and  not 
only  in  man,  but  in  all  creatures;  unless  the  forms 
of  life  obtain  a  gentle,  gracious  lord,  under  whose 
control  they  must  be,  who  can  break  their  might 
and  will.  That  is  found  in  the  Light  of  Ufe,  which 
is  lord  of  all  the  forms,  and  can  subdue  them  all; 
they  must  all  give  their  will  to  the  Light.  And 
they  do  it  also  gladly,  for  the  Light  gives  them 
gentleness  and  power,  so  that  their  harsh,  stem, 
bitter,  anguishful  forms  are  all  transformed  into 
lovehness.  They  all  give  their  will  to  the  Light 
of  life,  and  the  Light  gives  them  gentleness. 

4.  Plurality  is  thus  transformed  into  unity,  into 
one  will  which  is  called  the  mind,  and  is  the  foun- 
tain from  which  the  one  will  is  able  to  draw  evil 
and  good.  This  is  done  by  imagination,  or  by 
representation  of  a  thing  that  is  evil  or  good ;  and 
hence  the  thing's  property  is  susceptible  of  the 
same  property  in  the  hfe.  The  life's  property 
seizes  the  property  of  the  thing  represented,  be  it 
either  a  word  or  a  work,  and  enkindles  itself  there- 
with in  itself.  It  kindles  also  the  other  forms  of 
life  therewith,  so  that  they  begin  to  quaUfy,  and 
every  property  burns  in  its  source,  either  in  love 
or  wrath,  all  according  to  the  nature  represented. 
Whatever  the  imagination  has  seized,  that  it  intro- 
duces into  the  mind. 

5.  We  give  you  therefore  to  understand  that 
when  the  mind  thus  enkindles  itself  in  a  form,  it 
enkindles  the  whole  spirit  and  body,  and  forthwith 
carries  its  imagination  into  the  inmost  fire  of  the 
soul,  and  awakens  the  inmost  centrum  naturae. 


56  SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 

This,  when  it  is  enkindled,  be  it  in  wrath  or  love, 
apprehends  itself  in  all  the  seven  forms  of  Nature, 
which  reach  after  the  spirit  of  the  soul's  will,  wherein 
is  the  noble  image  in  which  God  reveals  himself, 
and  introduce  their  enkindled  fire  thereunto.  As 
you  have  a  similitude  of  this  in  fire:  According  to 
the  matter  in  which  it  burns,  such  a  light  does  it 
give;  as  is  to  be  seen  in  sulphur  compared  with 
wood,  and  in  many  things  besides. 

6.  We  understand  then  by  this,  that  whatever 
nature  and  property  the  fire  hath,  such  a  property 
getteth  also  the  light  and  the  power  of  the  light. 

7.  Seeing  then  our  noble  image  of  God  stands  in 
the  Light  of  life,  in  the  soul's  fire,  it  is  highly  recog- 
nizable by  us  how  the  spirit  of  the  soul's  will  or  the 
noble  image  is  corrupted,  and  becomes  enkindled 
in  the  source  of  wrath,  often  also  in  the  source  of 
love.  And  we  see  here  our  great  danger  and  mis- 
ery, and  do  rightly  understand  why  Christ  has 
taught  us  patience,  love  and  meekness,  viz.  that  the 
soul's  fire  kindle  not  itself  in  wrath,  also  that  we  give 
not  occasion  to  others  to  kindle  their  souls'  fire 
in  wrath,  in  order  that  God's  kingdom  be  not 
hindered. 

8.  Herein  we  recognize  our  heavy  fall,  that  Adam 
has  introduced  into  our  souls'  fire  earthly  matter, 
which  burns  as  often  as  a  source  is  awakened  in 
the  centre  of  the  property  of  wrath.  We  see  thus 
how  we  lie  captive  in  God's  wrath  between  anger 
and  love,  in  great  danger. 

9.  And  we  give  you  this  highly  to  recognize. 
You  know,  as  we  have  set  forth  above  and  in  all 


THE  THIRD  POINT  57 

our  books,  how  from  fire  light  proceeds  as  another 
principle,  and  yet  has  the  fire's  property  and  power, 
for  the  fire's  centre  gives  them  to  the  light's  centre. 
And  how  the  light  is  also  desirous,  and  has  a  matrix 
of  longing  desire,  which  makes  itself  pregnant  in 
desire  with  the  power  of  the  light,  viz.  with  the 
gentleness  of  the  light;  and  in  this  pregnancy  lies 
the  substance  of  the  light,  that  is  in  the  pure  love 
of  the  Divine  Nature. 

10.  And  then  we  have  informed  you  how  the  fire 
draws  this  substance  into  itself,  uses  it  for  its  light's 
essence,  and  swallows  it  up  in  itself,  but  gives  from 
the  essence  another  spirit,  which  is  not  fire.  As 
indeed  you  see  that  fire  gives  two  spirits:  One 
that  is  furious  and  consuming,  consisting  of  fierce- 
ness as  property  of  the  first  matter;  and  secondly 
an  air-spirit,  which  is  the  property  of  the  light's 
gentleness. 

11.  We  are  now  to  consider  in  what  matter  fire 
burns  in  the  first  essence.  In  whatever  it  has 
kindled  itself,  in  love  or  anger,  that  is,  in  earthly 
or  divine  desire,  such  a  fire  it  is,  and  gives  also  such 
a  fire  of  light,  and  such  a  spirit  from  the  fire  of 
hght. 

12.  Now,  if  the  matter  of  the  first  fire,  wherein 
the  fire  burns,  be  good,  then  has  the  other  fire  of 
light  also  a  good  property,  savour  and  source,  and 
gives  also  a  good,  powerful,  lovely  light,  and  from 
the  light's  centre  also  a  good  and  powerful  spirit; 
and  this  spirit  is  the  similitude  of  God,  the  noble 
image. 

13.  But  if  the  first  fire  be  evil  in  its  essence,  and 


58         SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 

has  an  evil  matter  in  which  it  burns,  then  is  also 
the  life's  light  a  false  source  and  a  dim  shining,  as 
is  to  be  seen  in  a  sulphurous  light;  and  the  centre 
of  this  desiring  light  brings  also  out  of  its  property 
such  a  matter  into  its  fire,  and  the  fire  gives  such  a 
spirit  from  itself. 

14.  It  is  now  evident  what  spirit  can  or  cannot 
attain  the  freedom  of  God.  For  the  souFs  spirit 
or  the  image  which  has  in  itself  the  dim,  dark 
property,  cannot  be  capable  of  the  clear  light  of 
God.  Further,  if  it  has  in  itself  fierce  wrathful 
essences  and  qualities,  it  cannot  unite  with  the 
gentleness  of  God  and  inqualify  with  it;  for  wrath 
is  enmity  against  love  and  gentleness,  and  love 
suffers  not  wrath  within  it.  Here  they  are  sepa- 
rated :  love  thrusts  wrath  from  it,  and  neither  does 
wrath  desire  any  more  the  property  of  love. 

15.  For  as  soon  as  fire  gives  spirit  from  itself, 
it  is  perfect,  and  separates  into  its  proprium,  be  it 
a  spirit  of  light,  or  a  dark  wrathful  sulphurous 
spirit.  And  into  the  same  essence  from  which  it  is 
gone  out  does  it  desire  to  return  again;  for  it  is 
its  property,  be  it  in  love  or  enmity  to  love. 

16.  Accordingly  we  understand  what  spirits  or 
souls  live  in  the  source  of  enmity,  and  how  enmity 
originally  arises,  so  that  a  life  is  at  enmity  with 
itself  from  the  first  matter  unto  the  life's  light. 
The  cause  lies  in  the  wheel  of  Nature,  in  the  seven 
spirits  or  forms,  each  of  which  has  its  own  pro- 
perty; and  in  whichever  property  the  mind  be- 
comes enkindled,  such  a  property  getteth  its  soul's 
fire  together  with  the  will's  spirit,  which  straight- 


THE  THIRD  POINT  59 

way  aspires  after  substance  and  being,  how  it  may 
realize  that  with  which  the  spirit  of  the  will  is 
pregnant. 

17.  Now  it  is  necessary  to  break  the  earthly 
will's  power  and  kill  the  old  evil  Adam,  and  bring 
his  will-spirit  by  compulsion  and  force  out  of 
wickedness.  For  here,  in  this  time,  that  is  possible ; 
because  the  third  principle  by  the  water  which 
gives  gentleness  is  attached  to  the  centre  of  the 
inward  nature,  and  holds  it  captive  as  it  were  in  its 
quaUty. 

18.  But  if  the  spirit  of  the  soul's  will,  as  the 
inward  centre  of  light,  breaks  off  from  the  outward 
and  remains  alone,  then  the  soul's  spirit  remains 
in  its  property.  For  there  is  little  remedy  unless 
the  spirit  of  the  will  have  in  the  time  of  the  external 
life  turned  round  to  God's  love,  and  attained  this 
as  a  sparkle  in  the  inward  centre.  Then  some- 
thing may  be  done.  But  in  what  agony  and  travail 
that  is  done,  experiences  full  well  the  sparkle  of 
love,  which  has  to  break  down  dark  fierce  death. 
It  is  purgatory  enough  to  it.  In  what  enmity 
life  stands,  in  terror  and  anguish,  till  it  can  sink 
into  the  sparkle,  into  the  freedom  of  God,  he  in- 
deed experiences  who  departs  from  this  world  so 
nakedly  with  little  light.  This,  the  present  much 
too  wise  world  regards  as  a  jesting  matter;  but 
what  kind  of  knowledge  it  has,  it  shows  by  its 
doing. 

19.  And  thus  we  understand  also  the  devil's  fall, 
who  was  an  angel;  how  he  imaginated  back  into 
the  centre  of  the  first  property,  and  sought  great 


immgBmmBmmm'H 


60         SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 

strength  and  might  (as  the  present  world  seeks 
great  might  and  honour),  and  despised  the  hght 
of  love.  Albeit  he  supposed  the  light  would  burn 
for  him  thus  (and  the  world  also  hopes  and  supposes 
the  light  of  God  shall  burn  in  its  pomp),  and  he 
willed  to  enkindle  himself  still  more  vehemently, 
to  see  if  he  could  dominate  over  all  thrones,  and 
over  the  essence  of  the  Deity  in  gentleness;  which 
proved  to  be  his  fall,  as  will  happen  also  to  the 
present  world. 

20.  Therefore  let  every  man  learn  hereby  to 
beware  of  pride  and  covetousness;  for  the  devil's 
fall  came  through  pride  and  covetousness,  in  that 
he  kindled  in  himself  the  centre  of  the  dark  world. 
Hence  he  was  cast  out  of  the  light-world  into  the 
dark  world.  And  thus  it  fares  with  all  men,  who, 
abandoning  meekness  and  humility,  enter  into 
wrath,  pride,  covetousness  and  envy.  All  these 
imaginate  into  the  centre  of  the  dark  Nature,  as 
into  the  origin  of  Nature,  and  withdraw  into  the 
dark  fire  of  the  source  of  anguish,  where  the  noble 
image  is  introduced  into  another  quality,  so  that 
it  must  be  in  fear  and  enmitv,  each  form  of  life 
being  hostile  to  the  other. 

21.  And  we  see  also  very  exactly  herefrom,  how 
God's  kingdom  is  found  only  in  the  bright  clear 
light  in  freedom,  in  love  and  gentleness ;  for  that  is 
the  property  of  the  white  clear  light.  As  is  to  be 
seen  in  outer  nature,  that  where  there  is  a  pleasant, 
mild  and  sweet  matter  for  the  outer  fire  (which 
is  but  the  fierceness  of  the  inner  fire),  that  also 
a  pleasant  light  and  odour  arise  from  it.     Much 


THE  THIRD  POINT  61 

more  is  this  so  in  the  spirit-fire,  to  which  no  com- 
prehensible or  external  being  belongs;  but  where 
the  seven  spirits  of  Nature  make  in  themselves  a 
fire,  which  is  only  a  property  and  a  source  of  fire, 
as  indeed  the  dark  world  and  light-world  stand  in 
such  a  spiritual  property. 

22.  As  also  the  inner  man,  who  is  from  the 
Eternal  and  who  goeth  into  the  Eternal;  he  has 
only  the  two  worlds  in  him.  The  property  to  which 
he  turns  himself,  into  that  world  is  he  introduced, 
and  of  that  world's  property  will  he  eternally  be, 
and  enjoy  the  same;  either  a  source  of  love  from 
the  light-world  of  gentleness,  or  a  hostile  source 
from  the  dark  world. 

23.  Here  he  buds  and  grows  in  the  middle  world 
between  the  hght-world  and  dark  world;  he  may 
give  himself  up  to  which  he  pleases.  The  essence 
which  obtains  the  dominion  in  him,  whether  fierce- 
ness or  gentleness,  the  same  he  embraces,  and  it 
han^s  into  him  and  leads  him;  it  gives  him  morals 
and  will,  and  unites  itself  wholly  with  him;  and 
thereinto  man  brings  the  spiritual  man,  viz.  the 
image  which  God  created  from  His  being,  from  all 
the  three  principles. 

24.  Therefore  it  is  said :  Take  the  cross  upon  thee ; 
enter  into  patience,  into  a  meek  life.  Do  not  what 
the  dark  centre  of  wrath  incites  thee  to,  nor  what 
the  falsehood  and  pleasure  of  this  world  entice 
thee  to;  but  break  both  their  wills.  Neither  pro- 
voke any  to  anger.  For  if  thou  deal  falsely,  thou 
dost  incense  thy  brother  and  hinder  the  kingdom 
of  God. 


62  SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 

25.  Thou  shouldst  be  a  leader  into  the  kingdom 
of  God,  and  enkindle  thy  brother  with  thy  love  and 
meekness,  that  he  may  see  in  thee  God's  essence 
as  in  a  mirror,  and  thus  in  thee  take  hold  also  with 
his  imagination.  Doest  thou  this,  then  bringest 
thou  thy  soul,  thy  work,  likewise  thy  neighbour 
or  brother  into  God's  kingdom,  and  enlargest  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  with  its  wonders.  This  has 
Christ  taught  us,  saying:  If  any  smite  thee  on 
one  cheek,  offer  him  the  other  also;  if  any  take 
away  thy  cloak,  withhold  not  from  him  thy  coat 
also  (Matt.  v.  39,  40)  ;  that  he  may  have  in  thee  a 
mirror  and  retreat  into  himself,  see  thy  meekness, 
acknowledge  thou  art  God's  child,  and  that  God's 
Spirit  leads  thee;  that  he  may  learn  of  thee,  de- 
scend into  himself  and  seek  himself.  Else,  if  thou 
oppose  him  with  defiance  and  spite,  his  spite  be- 
comes kindled  still  more,  and  at  last  he  thinks  he  is 
acting  right  to  thee.  But  thus  he  must  certainly 
recognize  he  doth  thee  wrong. 

26.  And  as  God's  love  resists  all  wicked  men, 
and  the  conscience  often  dissuades  from  evil,  so 
also  thy  meekness  and  patience  go  to  his  bad  con- 
science, and  arraign  the  conscience  in  itself  before 
God's  light  in  the  wrath.  In  this  way  many  a 
wicked  man  goes  out  from  his  wickedness,  descends 
into  himself  and  seeks  himself.  Then  God's  Spirit 
puts  him  in  mind  of  thy  patience,  and  sets  it  before 
his  eyes,  and  so  he  is  drawn  thereby  into  repentance 
and  abstinence. 

27.  Not  that  one  should  not  defend  oneself 
against  a  murderer  or  thief,  who  would  murder  and 


THE  THIRD  POINT  63 

steal.  But  where  one  sees  that  any  is  eager  upon 
unrighteousness,  one  should  set  his  fault  openly 
with  a  good  light  before  his  eyes,  and  freely  and 
of  good  will  offer  him  the  Christian  richly-loving 
heart;  that  he  may  find  actually  and  in  fact,  that 
it  is  done  out  of  love-zeal  to  God,  and  that  love 
and  God's  will  are  more  to  that  man  than  the 
earthly  nature,  and  that  he  purposely  will  not 
consent  to  anything  passionate  or  evil  being  done; 
that  he  may  see  that  the  children  of  God  do  love 
more  the  love  of  God  and  do  cleave  more  to  it  than 
to  any  temporal  good;  and  that  God's  children 
are  not  at  home  in  this  world,  but  only  pilgrims, 
who  gladly  relinquish  everything  of  this  world 
so  that  they  may  but  inherit  the  kingdom  of 
heaven. 

28.  All  this  the  Spirit  of  God  puts  before  the 
evil-doer  in  the  hfe's  light,  and  exhorts  him  there- 
by to  conversion.  But  if  he  will  not,  then  the 
wrath  of  God  makes  helHsh  fire  from  it,  and  finally 
gnaws  him,  to  see  if  even  yet  he  would  know  him- 
self and  repent.  Persisteth  he  in  wickedness,  then 
is  he  a  wholly  evil  tree,  grown  in  the  wrath  of  God, 
and  belongs  to  the  abyss,  to  the  dark  world  of 
anguish,  to  the  dark  God  Lucifer;  there  he  must 
devour  his  own  abominations.  So  much  on  the 
third  point. 


THE  FOUR  ill  POINT 

How  THE  HOLY  AND  GOOD  TREE  OF  ETERNAL  LIFE 
GROWS  THROUGH  AND  OUT  OF  ALL  THE  GROWTHS 
OF  THE  THREE  PRINCIPLES^  AND  IS  LAID  HOLD 
OF  BY  NONE. 

CHAPTER  V 

1.  A  thing  that  dwells  in  itself  can  be  grasped  by 
nothing,  for  it  dwells  in  nothing;  there  is  nothing 
before  it  that  can  hold  it  in  check,  and  it  is  free  also 
from  the  thing  without  it. 

2.  And  thus  we  give  you  to  understand  concern- 
ing the  divine  power  and  light,  which  dwells  in 
itself  and  is  comprehended  in  nothing;  nothing 
touches  it,  unless  it  be  of  the  property  thereof. 
It  is  everywhere  in  Nature,  yet  Nature  touches  it 
not  (understand,  the  outer  Nature  of  the  world). 
It  shines  therein  as  the  sun  in  the  elements.  The 
sun  shines  in  water,  also  in  fire  and  through  the 
air,  and  yet  is  not  seized  or  held  by  any  of  them. 
It  gives  to  all  beings  power,  and  makes  the  essential 
spirits  lovely  and  joyous.  It  draws  by  its  power 
essence  out  of  the  earth,  and  not  only  essence,  but 
also  the  being  of  the  essences,  which  gives  out  of 
the  essence  a  body. 

3.  What  the  sun  does  in  the  third  principle  by 
transforming  all  hostile  essence  and  quality  into 

64 


THE  FOURTH  POINT  65 

gentleness,  that  God's  light  does  in  the  forms  of  the 
Eternal  Nature. 

4.  It  shines  in  them  and  also  from  them;  that 
is,  it  kindles  the  forms  of  Nature,  so  that  they  all 
obtain  the  Light's  will,  and  unite  themselves  and 
give  themselves  up  wholly  to  the  Light;  that  is, 
they  sink  down  from  their  own  essence  and  become 
as  if  they  had  no  might  in  themselves,  and  desire 
only  the  Light's  power  and  might.  The  Light 
accordingly  takes  their  power  and  might  into  itself, 
and  shines  from  this  same  power.  And  thus  all  the 
forms  of  Nature  attain  to  the  Light,  and  the  Light 
together  with  Nature  is  but  one  will,  and  the  Light 
remains  lord. 

5.  Else,  if  the  wills  in  the  stern  forms  of  Nature 
will  be  lord,  there  is  a  separation  and  an  eternal 
enmity.  For  one  form  is  always  at  enmity  with  the 
other;  each  elevates  itself.  And  therefrom  comes 
contrariety,  that  a  creature  is  so  evil,  wrathful  and 
hostile,  that  often  Hfe  is  at  strife  in  itself. 

6.  And  as  we  know  that  the  Light  comes  to  the 
aid  of  the  stern  life  of  Nature,  of  the  properties  of 
the  essences,  so  that  a  joyous  life  arises,  and  is  thus 
changed  in  the  Light;  so  also  we  know  that  the 
life  of  dark  wrathfulness  is  the  enemy  of  the  Light, 
for  it  cannot  catch  the  Light.  The  eternal  Light 
shines  through  the  darkness,  and  the  darkness  can- 
not comprehend  it ;  for  the  plurality  of  wills  in  the 
dark  Nature  are  all  shut  up  in  death;  the  Light 
shines  not  in  them,  but  through  them;  they  seize  not, 
nor  do  they  see  the  Light.  Nevertheless,  the 
Light  is  in  the  dark  world,  but  it  fills  not  the  dark- 


66         SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 

ness;  and  therefore  the  essences  of  the  dark  world 
remain  a  hostile  poison  and  death,  the  essences  being 
at  enmity  with  themselves. 

7.  Thus  there  are  three  principles  in  one  another, 
and  one  comprehends  not  the  other ;  and  the  eternal 
Light  cannot  be  laid  hold  of  by  anything,  unless 
that  thing  fall  into  death,  and  give  its  essence 
voluntarily  to  the  fire  of  Nature,  and  pass  with  its 
essential  will  out  of  itself  into  the  Light,  and  aban- 
don itself  wholly  to  the  Light;  and  desire  to  will 
or  to  do  nothing,  but  commit  its  will  to  the  Light, 
that  the  Light  may  be  its  will. 

8.  Thus  the  Light  seizes  it,  and  it  also  the  Light. 
And  thus  the  evil  will  is  given  up  to  the  Light,  and 
the  Light  gives  its  power  to  the  malignity,  and 
makes  of  the  mahgnity  a  friendly  good  will,  which 
is  only  a  love-desire;  for  the  gentleness  of  the 
Light  has  wholly  embodied  itself  in  the  hostile  will. 

9.  So  then  God's  will  is  done,  and  the  evil  is  trans- 
formed into  good,  and  God's  love  shines  from  his 
anger  and  fierce  wrath ;  and  no  wrath  is  known  in 
God's  Eternal  Nature.  Thus  we  are  to  understand 
how  the  eternal  Light,  or  the  eternal  Power-tree, 
shines  through  all  the  three  principles,  unappre- 
hended by  any  of  them;  for  so  long  as  an  essence 
is  out  of  God's  will  (viz.  the  gentle  hght-will),  so 
long  is  it  sohtary  and  dwells  in  itself,  and  compre- 
hends nothing  of  God.  But  if  it  unite  itself  to 
God,  and  break  and  sink  its  own  will,  then  it  is  one 
spirit  in  and  with  God,  and  God  shines  from  that 

essence. 

10.  And  we  understand  also  why  the  wicked  soul, 


THE  FOURTH  POINT  67 

as  well  as  the  devil,  sees  not  and  knows  not  God; 
namely,  because  their  will  will  not  unite  itself  to 
God,  it  will  itself  be  lord.  It  remains  accordingly 
without  God,  only  in  itself,  and  God  remains  also 
in  himself;  and  so  one  dwells  in  the  other,  and 
knows  nothing  of  the  other,  for  one  turns  its  back  to 
the  other,  and  sees  not  the  face  of  the  other. 

11.  And  thus  the  world  of  light  knows  nothing 
of  the  devils,  and  the  devils  know  nothing  of  the 
world  of  light,  save  only  this,  that  they  were  once 
in  it.  They  represent  it  to  themselves  as  one  who 
sees  in  imagination;  although  the  light-world  no 
longer  yields  itself  up  to  their  imagination,  neither 
do  they  imaginate  after  it,  for  it  terrifies  them ;  also 
they  are  ashamed  about  it. 

12.  So  likewise  we  are  to  understand  concerning 
the  outer  world.  God's  light  shines  through  and 
through,  but  is  apprehended  only  by  that  which 
unites  itself  thereunto.  Seeing  then  this  outer 
world  as  it  were  dumb  and  without  understanding 
in  respect  of  God,  therefore  it  remains  in  its  own 
will,  and  carries  its  own  spirit  in  itself,  although 
God  has  given  it  a  Nature-god,  viz.  the  sun,  into 
which  every  being  should  cast  its  will  and  desire; 
whatever  is  in  this  world  and  does  not  do  so,  that 
remains  in  itself  a  great  malignity  and  is  its  own 
enmity. 

13.  And  this  world  is  recognized  as  a  special 
principle  because  it  has  a  Nature-god  of  its  own, 
namely  the  sun;  and  yet  truly  the  light  of  the 
Deity  shines  through  all,  through  and  through. 
The  light  of  the  sun  takes  essence  from  God's  fire,    1 


68  SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 

and  God's  fire  from  God's  light.  And  thus  the 
light  of  the  sun  gives  this  power  to  the  elements,  and 
they  give  it  to  the  creatures,  also  to  the  plants  of  the 
earth;  and  all  that  is  of  a  good  property  receives 
thus  God's  power  as  a  lustre  through  the  mirror  of 
wisdom,  from  whence  it  has  its  growth  and  life.  . 

14.  For  God  is  present  to  every  being,  but  not 
every  being  receives  him  into  its  essence;  but  as  in 
the  mirror  of  the  aspect  in  the  sun's  virtue ;  for  the 
sun  proceeds  from  the  eighth  number.  Its  root 
from  which  it  receives  its  brightness  is  the  eternal 
fire,  but  its  body  is  in  this  world.  Its  desire  is 
directed  wholly  into  this  world,  in  which  it  shines; 
but  its  first  root  is  in  the  first  world,  in  the  fire  of 
God.  This  world  gives  being  to  its  desire,  and  it 
gives  its  power  to  being,  and  fills  every  being  in 
this  world,  as  God's  light  does  the  divine  light- 
world.  And  if  God's  fire  should  burn  no  more,  the 
sun  would  be  extinguished,  and  also  the  divine 
light-world ;  for  God's  fire  gives  essence  to  both,  and 
is  a  principle  of  both.  And  if  the  dark  world  were 
not,  neither  would  these  two  be ;  for  the  dark  world 
gives  occasion  for  God's  fire. 

15.  The  three  worlds  must  accordingly  be  in 
one  another,  for  nothing  can  subsist  without  a 
ground.  For  the  dark  world  is  the  ground  of 
Nature;  and  the  eternal  unfathomable  will,  which 
is  called  Father,  is  the  ground  of  the  dark  world, 
as  above  set  forth.  And  the  light-world  is  hidden 
in  the  dark  world,  and  also  the  dark  world  in  the 

1  light-world. 

16.  It  is  to  be  understood  thus:  This  world  is 


i 


THE  FOURTH  POINT  69 

shut  up  in  the  wrath  of  God  as  in  death ;  for  wrath 
springs  up  in  this  world's  essence.  If  that  were  not 
so,  then  might  this  world's  essence  seize  God's  light. 

17.  Thus  this  world  receives  only  a  reflection 
of  God  through  the  sun's  power.  The  sun  is  not 
God's  light,  for  it  shines  not  wholly  in  divine 
essence,  but  shines  in  elemental  essence.  It  has 
God's  fire  as  its  root,  but  is  filled  with  this  world's 
essence.  For  it  is  desirous  as  a  magical  craving, 
and  receives  in  its  imagination  and  craving  the 
power  of  the  stars  and  elements;  and  from  this  it 
shines  also. 

18.  Though  God's  fire  is  its  root,  yet  it  belongs 
not  to  God's  kingdom.  And  here  we  understand 
how  the  devil  is  the  poorest  creature ;  for  he  cannot 
move  a  leaf  except  wrath  be  therein,  and  then  he 
moves  it  according  to  the  property  of  wrath.  For 
the  light  and  the  power  of  this  world  is  repugnant 
to  him;  he  enters  not  with  his  will  into  the  property 
of  the  light,  neither  is  he  able  to  do  so.  He  stands 
backward  to  the  light  of  the  sun  in  his  figure  and 
property,  and  therefore  the  sun's  light  profits  him 
nothing.  And  all  that  grows  in  the  sun's  power, 
that  unites  itself  unto  the  sun,  that  he  is  enemy  to; 
his  will  enters  not  readily  thereinto. 


70 


SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 


CHAPTER  VI 

1.  If  we  consider  all  this,  and  pass  from  the 
inward  world  into  this  outward  visible  world,  we 
find  that  the  essence  of  the  external  world  has  pro- 
ceeded from  the  internal,  viz.  from  the  imagination 
or  desire  of  the  internal  world.  And  we  shall  find 
in  the  external  world  the  property  of  the  two  inward 
worlds;  also  how  the  wills  of  both  properties  are 
moving  and  manifest  in  the  external  world.  And 
then  how  the  good,  or  the  essence  which  has  pro- 
ceeded from  the  light-world,  is  shut  up  in  wrath 
and  death;  and  how  the  divine  power  activates  all, 
so  that  all  grows  through  and  out  of  the  fierceness 
of  death. 

2.  For  the  earthly  tincture  has  no  communion 
or  fellowship  with  the  heavenly  in  the  light-world. 
We  find,  however,  in  the  earth  another  tincture 
which  has  fellowship  with  the  heavenly,  as  in  the 
precious  metals,  but  is  hidden  in  them. 

3.  And  we  understand  thus  the  motion  and  the 
Fiat  of  the  two  eternal  worlds,  viz.  the  dark  world 
and  the  light-world:  Each  has  longed  after  being; 
and  as  God  put  himself  in  motion  once  for  all,  one 
world  could  not  be  moved  without  the  other. 

4.  For  the  dark  world  contains  the  first  centre 
of  Nature,  and  the  light-world  the  other  centre, 
viz.  the  heart  of  God,  or  the  Word  of  power  of  the 


IH' 


fl 


/I 


THE  FOURTH  POINT  71 

Deity;  and  one  world  is  not  separated  from  the 
other. 

5.  Hereby  we  should  recognize  in  what  danger 
we  stand,  and  think  where  we  would  plunge  with 
our  will.  For  if  we  plunge  into  the  earthly  craving, 
it  captures  us;  and  then  the  qualification  of  the 
abyss  is  our  lord,  and  the  sun  our  temporal  god. 

6.  But  if  we  plunge  with  our  will  into  the  world 
out  of  this  world,  then  the  light-world  captures  our 
will,  and  God  becomes  our  lord;  and  we  abandon 
the  earthlv  life  of  this  world,  and  take  with  us 
whatever  has  come  from  the  light-world  into  us, — 
understand,  into  Adam;  the  same  is  carried  out 
of  this  world  with  the  will  which  becomes  one  spirit 
with  God. 

7.  Reason  says:  Where  are  then  the  three 
worlds?  It  would  have  absolutely  a  separation,  in 
which  one  were  beyond  or  above  the  other.  That, 
however,  cannot  possibly  be,  else  the  eternal  un- 
fathomable Essence  were  bound  to  sever  itself. 
But  how  can  that  sever  itself  which  is  a  nothing, 
which  has  no  place,  which  is  itself  all?  That 
cannot  enter  into  particular  existence  which  has 
no  ground,  which  cannot  be  comprehended,  which 
dwells  in  itself  and  possesses  itself;  but  it  pro- 
ceeds out  of  itself,  and  manifests  itself  out  of 
itself. 

8.  It  makes  a  thing  out  of  itself,  which  in  itself 
is  but  a  will.  In  itself  it  is  a  spirit,  but  makes  out 
of  itself  a  form  of  spirit,  and  the  form  makes  a 
being  according  to  the  property  of  the  spirit.  As 
indeed  this  world  is  a  being,  and  the  inward  spirit 


w''>(»'»wMi<i»"awiw>i)y*'*wttjw^ 


72  SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 

possesses  it.     He  is  in  every  plaee,  yet  the  place 
comprehends   him  not,   but   he   comprehends   the 
place.     The  place  knows  nothing  of  him,  but  it 
feels  him;  for  he  is  the  power  and  the  spirit  in 
the  place.     His  will  goes  through  being,  and  being 
has  no  eyes  to  see  him,  but  he  is  the  seeing  of  the 
place;   and   is  himself  no  place  or  position,  but 
makes  for  himself  an  unfathomable  position,  where 
there  is  no  measurement.     He  is  all,  and  yet  also 
like  to  a  nothing  in  comparison  with  the  external. 
What  he  gives  out  of  himself,  that  he  possesses  too; 
he  passes  not  into  it,  but  he  is  there  before  being 
occupies  the  place.     The  place  contains  but  a  reflec- 
tion of  his  will,  as  one  sees  one's  form  in  a  mirror, 
and  yet  cannot  take  hold  upon  it;  or  as  the  sun- 
shine^ is  not  laid  hold  of  in  water,  yet  the  water 
feels  it  and  receives  the  lustre;  or  as  the  earth 
receives  power   from  the   sun,   so   that   it   brings 
forth  fruit.     In  this  way  God  dwells  in  all  beings, 
and  permeates  and  pervades  all,  yet  is  laid  hold  of 

by  nothing. 

9.  And  as  we  understand  that  the  earth  has  a 
great  hunger  and  desire  after  the  sun's  power  and 
light,  in  which  it  draws  to  itself  and  becomes 
susceptible  of  the  sun's  power  and  light,  which 
without  desire  could  not  be;  in  like  manner  outer 
nature  hungers  after  the  inner,  for  the  outward 
form  arises  from  the  inner.  Thus  outer  nature 
receives  in  itself  the  form  of  the  inner  as  a  lustre 
or  power;  for  it  cannot  seize  the  inward  spirit, 
inasmuch  as  he  dwells  not  in  the  outer,  but  pos- 
sesses himself  in  himself  in  the  inner. 


f. 


THE  FOURTH  POINT  73 

10.  But  the  outer  nature  receives  by  the  mirror 
the  form  of  the  spirit,  as  water  does  the  lustre  of 
the  sun.  We  are  not  to  think  that  the  inner  is  far 
from  the  outer,  like  the  body  of  the  sun  is  from 
the  water;  though  neither  is  that  so,  that  the  sun 
is  far  from  the  water,  for  the  water  has  the  sun's 
essence  and  property,  else  it  would  not  catch  the 
sun's  lustre.  Although  the  sun  is  a  corpus,  yet  the 
sun  is  also  in  the  water,  but  not  manifest;  the  corpus 
makes  the  sun  manifest  in  the  water.  And  we 
are  to  know  that  the  whole  world  would  be  nothing 
but  sun,  and  the  locus  of  the  sun  would  be  every- 
where, if  God  was  to  kindle  and  manifest  it;  for 
every  being  in  this  world  catches  the  sun's  lustre. 
There  is  in  all  a  mirror,  that  the  power  and  form 
of  the  sun  mav  be  received  in  all  that  is  animate  and 
inanimate,  in  all  the  four  elements  and  their  essence 
and  substance. 

11.  And  so  it  is  also  with  the  inner  light-world.. 
It  dwells  in  the  outer  world,  and  this  receives 
power  from  it.  It  grows  up  in  the  outward  power, 
and  this  knows  nothing  of  it;  and  only  feels  the 
power,  and  the  inward  light  it  cannot  behold ;  only 
in  its  life's  mirror  it  receives  the  reflection  thereof, , 
for  the  inward  power  makes  in  the  outward  form  a 
likeness  of  itself. 

12.  And  thus  then  we  are  to  recognize  man.  He 
is  the  inner  and  outer  world  (the  cause,  moreover, 
of  the  inner  world  in  himself) ,  and,  so  far  as  belongs 
to  him,  also  the  dark  world.  He  is  all  three  worlds ; 
and  if  he  remain  standing  in  co-ordination,  so  that 


w 


74  SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 

he  introduce  not  one  world  into  the  other,  then  he 
is  God's  hkeness. 

13.  He  should  introduce  the  form  or  the  mirror 
of  the  light-world  into  the  outer  world,  and  also 
into  the  inmost  dark  world,  and  bring  the  power 
of  the  middle  or  liglit-world  into  the  mirror,  and 
then  he  is  suspectible  of  the  divine  light ;  for  essence 
seizes  not  the  light,  but  the  power  of  the  light.  But 
the  mirror  of  power  catches  the  light,  as  water  does 
the  sun ;  for  water  is  as  a  clear  mirror  in  comparison 
with  earth. 

14.  Now  if  water  be  mixed  with  earth,  it  no 
longer  catches  the  sun's  hght;  so  likewise  the  human 
spirit  or  soul  catches  not  God's  hght,  unless  it 
remain  pure  and  set  its  desire  upon  that  which  is 
pure,  viz.  upon  the  light;  for  what  life  imaginates 
after,  that  it  receives.  The  life  of  man  is  the  form 
of  the  two  inward  worlds.  If  life  desire  sulphur 
in  itself,  then  is  Phur  out  of  Sul  its  darkening;  but 
if  it  desire  only  Sul,  then  it  receives  the  power  of 
the  light,  and  in  the  power  the  light  with  its 
property.  For  in  Phur,  viz.  in  fierce  wrathful 
Nature,  life  cannot  remain  clear  as  a  mirror,  but 
in  Sul  it  can;  for  the  life  of  man  is  a  true  mirror 
of  the  Deity,  wherein  God  beholds  himself.  He 
gives  his  lustre  and  power  to  the  human  mirror,  and 
finds  himself  in  man,  as  also  in  angels  and  in  the 
forms  of  heaven. 

15.  The  light-world's  essence  is  his  finding  or 
revelation,  and  the  dark  world's  essence  is  his  loss. 
He  sees  not  himself  in  the  dark  world,  for  it 
has  no  mirror  that  were  susceptible  of  the  light. 


H 


THE  FOURTH  POINT  75 

All  that  imaginates  after  the  dark  world's  essence 
and  property,  that  receives  the  dark  world's  prop- 
erty, and  loses  the  mirror  of  God.  It  becomes  filled 
with  dark  wrath ;  like  as  one  mixes  water  with  earth, 
and  then  the  sun  cannot  shine  therein.  This  water 
loses  the  mirror  of  the  sun,  and  must  withdraw 
again  from  the  earth ;  else  it  is  nevermore  any  mirror 
of  the  sun,  but  is  imprisoned  in  the  wrathul  dark 
earth. 

16.  So  it  is  also  with  human  life.  As  long  as 
it  imaginates  after  God's  Spirit,  it  receives  God's 
power  and  light,  and  knows  God.  But  when  it 
imaginates  after  earthliness  or  after  the  dark 
world's  property,  it  receives  the  essence  of  earthli- 
ness and  of  the  dark  world,  and  becomes  filled  with 
the  same.  Then  is  life's  mirror  shut  up  in  dark- 
ness, and  loses  the  mirror  of  God,  and  must  be  born 
anew. 

17.  As  we  know  that  Adam  thus  made  the  pure 
mirror  earthly,  and  lost  God's  power  and  light, 
which  Christ,  God's  Son,  restored  again,  and  broke 
open  the  earthly  darkness,  and  forcibly  introduced 
the  mirror  of  God. 

18.  Thus  we  recognize  how  the  holy  tree  grows 
through  all  things,  and  out  of  all  beings;  but  is 
apprehended  by  no  being,  save  only  in  the  mirror 
of  purity,  as  in  the  pure  life  of  man;  which  life 
desires  that  tree,  and  it  can  be  apprehended  in  no 
dark  life.     This  then  is  the  fourth  point. 


iP-fappmp>W»»'^w  III  i^\mmmfmi<if'»tfff^'^l '' 


'!x3u,a,44.44;  .ffiifty  |iBifiiii|fjBm^^^ 


.  „'  ^JT-'  -  - - 


-,  ,  -~~Mr.^    t^^^^-l-AJLIP^^iitSI^ 


THE  FIFTH  POINT 

How  A  LIFE  MAY  PERISH  IN  THE  TREE  OF  LIFE. 
How  IT  PASSES  OUT  OF  THE  SOURCE  OF  LO^TE 
AND  JOY  INTO  A  SOURCE  OF  MISERY,  WHICH  IS 
CONTRARY  TO  ALL  OTHER  LIVES. 

CHAPTER  VII 

1.  Every  life  is  a  clear  gleam  and  mirror,  and 
appears  like  a  flash  of  a  terrible  aspect.  But  if 
this  flash  catch  the  light,  it  is  transformed  into 
gentleness  and  drops  the  terror,  for  then  the  terror 
unites  itself  to  the  light.  And  thus  the  light  shines 
from  the  terrible  flash;  for  the  flash  is  the  light's 
essence,  it  is  its  fire. 

2.  The  flash  contains  the  centrum  naturae,  being 
the  fourth  form  of  Nature  where  life  rises,  which  in 
the  steady  fire,  as  in  the  principle,  attains  to  per- 
fection, but  in  the  light  is  brought  into  another 
quality. 

3.  Now,  the  origin  of  the  imagination  [magical 
attraction]  is  in  the  first  form  of  Nature,  viz.  in  the 
desiring  sourness,  which  carries  its  form  through 
the  dark  world  unto  fire;  for  the  first  desire  goes 
through  all  forms,  makes  also  all  the  forms,  and 
is  carried  as  far  as  to  fire.  There  is  the  dividing 
bound-mark  of  spirit,  there  it  is  born.  It  is  now 
free.     It  may  by  its  imagination  go  back  again 

76 


THE  FIFTH  POINT  77 

into  its  mother  the  dark  world,  or,  going  forward, 
sink  down  through  the  anguish  of  fire  into  death, 
and  bud  forth  in  the  light.  That  depends  on  its 
choice.  Where  it  yields  up  itself,  there  it  must  be ; 
for  its  fire  must  have  substance,  that  it  may  have 
something  to  feed  upon. 

4.  Will  the  spirit  eat  of  its  first  mother  the  sour- 
ness, that  is,  will  it  give  to  its  fire  for  food  the  fierce 
essentiality  in  the  centre,  or  the  light's  essentiality 
in  the  light-world,  that  is  all  in  its  own  power; 
whatever  its  fire  receives,  in  the  property  thereof 

does  it  burn. 

5.  In  the  dark  property  it  burns  in  the  dark, 
harsh,  stern  source,  and  sees  in  itself  as  a  flash;  it 
has  only  the  mirror  of  darkness,  and  sees  in  the 
darkness.  In  the  hght's  property  it  catches  the 
gentleness  of  the  light,  in  which  the  light-fire  burns, 
and  sees  in  the  light-world.  All  is  nigh  unto  spirit, 
and  yet  it  can  see  in  no  other  world  or  property 
save  in  that  wherein  its  fire  burns ;  of  that  world  is 
the  spirit  only  susceptible,  it  sees  nothing  in  the 
other  world;  it  has  no  eyes  for  that.  It  remains 
to  it  an  eternal  hiddenness,  unless  it  has  been  in 
another  world  and  gone  out  from  thence,  and  given 
itself  to  another  fire,  as  the  devils  did,  who  have 
indeed  a  knowledge  of  the  light-world,  but  no 
feeling  or  seeing  thereof ;  the  light-world  is  nigh  to 
them,  but  they  know  it  not. 

6.  And  now  we  are  to  recognize  life's  perdition, 
which  comes  about  in  the  first  Principle.  There 
is  the  hinge,  there  the  will  may  plunge  whither  it 
will.     If  it  set  its  desire  upon  plurality  and  will 


™.-^-!. . .  ^L,,j^jj,iia-,,A#^  ^i'* 


78  SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 

itself  be  lord,  then  it  cannot  lay  hold  of  plurality- 
otherwise  than  in  a  dark,  stern  sourness,  in  the  dark 
world.  But  if  it  desire  to  plunge  into  the  nothing, 
into  freedom,  it  must  abandon  itself  to  fire;  and 
then  it  sinks  down  in  the  death  of  the  first  principle, 
and  buds  forth  out  of  the  anguish  of  fire  in  the 
light.  For  when  it  abandons  itself,  the  eternal 
will  to  Nature  (which  is  God  the  Father)  leads 
it  out  through  fire  into  himself.  For  with  the 
abandoning  it  falls  unto  the  first  will  to  Nature, 
who  brings  it  by  the  other  will,  which  is  his  Son 
or  Heart,  out  of  the  anguishful  Nature,  and  places 
it  with  the  Son's  will  in  freedom  beyond  the 
torment  of  fire.  There  it  obtains,  instead  of 
plurality,  all;  not  for  its  own  glory  or  power,  but 
for  God's  glory  and  power;  God  is  in  it  both  its  will 
and  its  doing. 

7.  But  whatever  will  itself  be  lord  in  fire,  that 
goeth  into  its  own  number,  into  its  essence  which 
itself  is;  and  whatever  surrenders  its  power,  sur- 
renders also  its  fire-burning,  and  falls  unto  that 
which  is  a  cause  of  fire,  viz.  unto  the  eternal  will  of 
God. 

8.  Thus  it  has  fallen  into  freedom  out  of  its  fire 
of  torment,  and  freedom  kindles  its  fire.  Its  fire 
is  now  become  a  light  and  a  clear  mirror,  for  it  has 
yielded  itself  up  to  Freedom,  viz.  to  God.  And 
thus  its  fire  is  a  semblance  and  reflection  of  the 
Majesty  of  God. 

9.  But  that  which  will  not,  but  will  itself  be  lord, 
that  remains  its  own;  it  cannot  bring  itself  in  its 
own  forms  higher  than  to  fire,  moreover  only  to 


THE  FIFTH  POINT  79 

the  flash;  for  no  clear  fire  can  burn  in  it,  seeing 
it  has  in  itself  no  clear  substance  for  fire.  The 
centrum  naturae  has  nothing  in  itself  from  which  a 
clear  brightness  is  able  to  arise ;  but  the  freedom  out 
of  Nature  is  a  cause  of  such  shining.  Whatever 
yields  itself  up  to  Nature,  yet  desires  not  Nature's 
property  but  freedom,  that  becomes  enkindled  in 
its  flash  of  life  by  freedom,  in  the  way  the  second 
Principle  has  enkindled  itself. 

10.  Thus  we  understand  how  a  life  perishes,  that 
is,  how  it  introduces  itself  in  anguish  and  torment 
into  darkness ;  namely,  when  it  will  be  its  own  lord 
and  desires  plurality.  If  it  will  not  give  itself  up 
to  death,  then  it  cannot  attain  any  other  world. 

11.  For  every  life  arises  in  the  torment  of 
anguish,  in  Nature,  and  has  no  light  in  itself,  except 
it  enter  into  that  which  gives  birth  to  Nature ;  there 
it  receives  light. 

12.  For  all  that  is  in  Nature  is  dark  and  in 
anguish,  as  is  to  be  recognized  by  this  world.  Were 
the  sun  to  be  taken  away,  there  would  be  nothing 
but  anguish  and  darkness.  And  therefore  God  put 
himself  in  motion,  so  as  to  give  a  light  to  this  world, 
that  the  external  life  might  be  in  light. 

13.  But  as  regards  the  inner  life  of  the  soul,  it 
has  another  form.  This  inner  life  can  the  external 
not  attain.  Hath  the  soul's  fire  not  God's  light, 
neither  can  the  soul's  will  enter  into  God's  light; 
it  must  remain  in  the  darkness  of  the  Eternal 
Nature. 

14.  External  Reason  thinks,  if  the  outward  eye 
sees,  that  is  good ;  there  is  no  other  seeing  possible. 


<  I 


80  SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 

Bad  enough,  forsooth!  When  the  poor  soul  bor- 
rows the  external  mirror,  and  must  make  shift  with 
this  alone,  where  is  its  seeing?  When  the  external 
mirror  breaks,  wherewith  will  it  see  then?  With 
the  terrible  fire-flash  in  the  horror,  in  the  darkness ; 
it  can  see  nowhere  else. 

15.  Therefore  it  often  happens  when  the  poor 
captive  soul  beholds  itself  in  the  inward  root,  and 
thinks  what  will  follow  when  for  it  the  external 
mirror  breaks,  that  it  is  terrified,  and  plunges  the 
body  in  fear  and  doubt. 

16.  For  it  can  look  nowhere  where  its  eternal  rest 
might  be,  but  it  finds  that  it  is  in  itself  in  utter 
unrest,  moreover  in  a  darkness;  it  has  the  external 
mirror  only  by  way  of  loan. 

17.  As  long  as  the  soul  is  in  this  body,  it  may 
indeed  make  shift  with  the  sun-mirror,  for  the  sun 
has  in  its  root  the  inner  fire  as  the  principle  of  the 
Father.  From  this  fire  the  soul  receives  a  lustre  or 
mirror  in  the  essence  of  the  body,  so  that  it  is  able 
thus  in  this  earthly,  transitory  hfe  to  be  in  joy. 
But  when  the  external  mirror  breaks,  that  is  at  an 
end ;  and  the  soul's  fire  goes  into  the  eternal  house 
of  mourning,  into  the  centre  of  darkness. 

18.  The  soul  has  in  the  time  of  the  outer  body 
three  mirrors  or  eyes  of  all  the  three  worlds.  The 
mirror  to  which  it  turns  itself,  by  that  does  it  see. 
But  it  has  no  more  than  one  as  a  natural  right, 
namely  the  fire-flash,  the  fourth  form  of  the  dark 
world,  where  the  two  inward  worlds  separate  (one 
into  the  darkness,  the  other  into  the  light),  and 
where  its  eternal  origin  is.     The  world  into  which 


THE  FIFTH  POINT  81 

the  soul  introduces  its  will,  in  the  same  it  receives 
also  substance,  viz.  a  spiritual  body.  For  this  sub- 
stance becomes  for  the  soul's  fire  a  food,  or  matter 
of  its  burning. 

19.  And  therefore  God  has  introduced  the  soul 
into  flesh  and  blood,  that  it  might  not  so  easily 
become  susceptible  of  the  wrath-essence.  Thus  it 
has  its  delight  meanwhile  in  the  mirror  of  the  sun, 
and  rejoices  in  the  sidereal  essence.  Presented  to 
it  is  (1)  the  light-world  in  its  true  fire,  (2)  the  dark 
world  in  the  fire-root,  (3)  the  outer  elemental  world 
in  the  astral  source.  Among  them  hovers  the  great 
mystery  of  the  soul's  fire. 

20.  The  world  to  which  the  soul  unites  and 
abandons  itself,  from  that  it  receives  substance  in 
its  imagination.  But  because  it  has  in  Adam 
turned  itself  to  the  spirit  of  this  world,  and  carried 
its  imagination  into  the  same,  its  highest  desire  is 
now  in  the  essence  of  the  sun  and  stars,  and  by  this 
desire  it  draws  the  spirit  of  the  outer  world  with  its 
substance  of  four  elements  continually  into  itself, 
and  has  its  greatest  joy  therein;  in  which  it  is  in 
a  strange  lodging  as  guest,  for  the  abyss  is  beneath 
it,  and  there  is  great  danger. 

21.  Here  external  Reason  says:  God  has  created 
the  soul  in  flesh  and  blood  in  the  outer  world,  what 
harm  can  that  do  it?  This  Reason  knows  no  more 
of  the  soul's  origin  than  a  cow  does  of  a  new  stable 
door.  She  looks  at  it,  and  it  seems  to  her  to  be 
strange ;  so  also  to  external  Reason  the  inner  world 
seems  to  be  something  strange. 

22.  It  finds  itself  in  the  outer  world,  and  aspires 


82  SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 

after  that  which  the  outer  world  has ;  and  yet  finds 
in  itself  the  inner  world,  which  continually  arraigns 
the  soul  before  God's  wrath.  It  finds  also  the 
light-world,  to  which  the  inward  desires  of  the  soul's 
principle  look.  It  feels  indeed  the  longing  after 
God,  but  the  outer  world  hinders  this  and  covers 
it  up ;  so  that  the  desire  after  God's  world  cannot 
kindle  fire  in  itself.  If  that  were  done,  then  would 
the  Ught-world  be  manifest  in  the  first  principle, 
and  the  noble  image  of  God  would  be  revealed. 

23.  This  is  also  hindered  by  the  devil,  who 
possesses  the  root  of  this  world  in  the  soul's  fire. 
He  is  always  holding  up  to  the  soul  evil  earthly 
things,  or  moving  the  root  in  the  centre  of  Nature 
in  the  fierce  wrath ;  so  that  the  poor  soul  enkindles 
itself  either  in  the  wrath-fire  in  the  evil  poison- 
source,  or  else  in  fear  and  doubt  of  God's  love.  He 
has  then  carried  the  day,  and  sets  before  the  soul 
external  power,  authority  and  honour,  also  the 
splendour  and  pomp  of  the  outer  world.  Then 
the  soul  bites  at  this,  and  tickles  itself  therein  with 
imagination;  and  yet  cannot  truly  enjoy  the  same, 
for  it  is  only  a  borrowed  mirror. 

24.  The  poor  soul  is  thus  drawn  away  from  God's 
light,  and  is  sinking  always  into  perdition,  viz.  into 
the  dark  house  of  misery,  into  the  dark  world. 
That  did  Adam  prepare  for  us  when  he  introduced 
his  desire  into  earthliness.  And  thus  the  poor  soul 
swims  now  in  earthly  flesh  and  blood,  and  is  always 
eating  of  the  tree  of  temptation  of  evil  and  good, 
and  is  drawn  strongly  by  both;  and  the  serpent's 
monstrous  shape  is  in  the  midst,  in  the  source  of 


THE  FIFTH  POINT  83 

wrath,   and  continually  blows  up  the  anger  and 
fierce  wrath. 

25.  Here  then  can  the  noble  lily-branch  nowhere 
recover  itself,  often  also  not  recognize  itself.  It  is 
oftentimes  overwhelmed  with  the  fierceness  of 
malignity,  so  that  it  is  as  if  it  were  wholly  destroyed ; 
and  it  would  be  destroyed  were  the  mirror  of  the 
Deity  not  turned  towards  it,  in  which  the  spirit 
of  the  will  of  the  poor  captive  soul  may  recover 
itself,  and  regenerate  itself  therein. 

26.  For  in  the  mirror  of  the  light-world  the  in- 
carnation of  Christ  is  presented  to  the  soul's  spirit; 
and  the  Word  that  became  man  stands  in  sound, 
and  is  in  action.  Therein  may  the  soul's  spirit 
recover  itself  and  generate  itself  anew;  else  it  were 
often  past  help  with  the  poor  soul,  when  it  is 
immersed  in  wrath  and  in  the  poison  of  the  dark 
world. 

27.  And  thus  we  understand  at  bottom  what  the 
destruction  of  the  noble  tree,  or  the  image  of  God, 
is,  namely  this : 

28.  The  entire  man  is  in  his  being  the  three 
worlds.  The  soul's  centre,  viz.  the  root  of  the  soul's 
fire,  contains  the  dark  world;  and  the  soul's  fire 
contains  the  first  Principle  as  the  true  fire-world. 
And  the  noble  image,  or  the  tree  of  divine  growth, 
which  is  generated  from  the  soul's  fire  and  buds 
forth  through  fierce  wrathful  death  in  freedom  or 
in  the  world  of  light,  contains  the  light-world  or  the 
second  Principle.  And  the  body,  which  in  the 
beginning  was  created  out  of  the  mixed  substance 
which  at  creation  arose  from  the  hght-world,  the 


«•* 


■MUM 


84  SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 

dark  world  and  the  fire-world,  contains  the  outer 
world  or  the  third  mixed  Principle. 

29.  The  right  soul  is  the  spirit  of  these  three 
worlds,  as  God's  Spirit  is  the  spirit  of  all  the  three 
worlds.  In  the  dark  world  it  is  wrathful,  stern  and 
an  austere  source,  and  is  called  God's  anger.  In 
the  hght-world  it  is  lovely,  gentle  and  joyous,  and 
is  the  spirit  from  God's  Heart,  the  Holy  Spirit. 
In  the  outer  world  it  is  the  spirit  of  air,  as  also  of 
fire  and  water,  and  may  be  used  as  man  pleases, 
all  unto  the  great  wonders. 

30.  Thus  is  man  according  to  the  particular  per- 
son the  great  mystery  in  the  three  worlds.  The 
world  to  which  he  turns  himself,  in  which  he  pro- 
duces fruit,  the  same  is  lord  in  him,  and  this  world 
becomes  manifest  in  him;  the  other  two  remain 
hidden.  As  fire  is  hidden  in  wood,  so  light  or  the 
light-world  remains  hidden  in  the  wrathful  dark 
world;  as  also  in  malignity,  in  the  distemper  of 
the  inner  world  in  the  outer  world. 

31.  But  if  the  light-world  cannot  become  mani- 
fest in  man  so  as  to  be  lord,  then  the  soul  at  the 
breaking  of  the  outer  world  remains  only  in  the 
dark  world;  for  there  it  is  no  longer  possible  for 
the  light-world  to  be  kindled.  There  is  for  the  light 
no  longer  any  mirror  that  were  turned  towards  the 
soul.  The  heart  of  God  is  not  manifest  therein, 
nor  eternally  can  be  (for  the  dark  world  must  be, 
else  the  hght  would  not  be  manifest) ;  but  here  in 
this  world  that  may  be. 

32.  And  though  a  soul  be  plunged  in  the  deepest 
abyss,  and  lies  in  the  wrath  of  God,  yet  in  the 


THE  FIFTH  POINT  85 

external  light  of  the  sun  it  has  before  it  the  light- 
mirror  wherein  the  divine  power  reveals  itself,  as 
also  the  mirror  of  the  incarnation  of  Christ,  which 
in  the  inner  dark  world  never  is  known. 

33.  And  our  whole  teaching  is  nothing  else  than 
how  man  should  kindle  in  himself  God's  light-world. 
For  if  this  be  kindled,  so  that  God's  hght  shines 
in  the  soul's  spirit,  then  the  whole  body  hath  light, 
as  Christ  says:  If  the  eye  be  light,  then  is  the  whole 
body  light  (Matt.  vi.  22,  23).  He  means  the  soul's 
eye.  And  if  the  wrath  of  the  dark  world  be  kindled, 
then  are  body  and  soul  dark,  and  have  only  a  lustre 
from  the  sun.  If  the  divine  light  be  kindled,  it 
burns  in  love  and  meekness;  and  if  the  wrath  of 
the  dark  world  be  kindled,  it  burns  in  stinging  envy^ 
and  hate,  in  fierce  rage,  and  flees  away  in  the 
external  mirror  of  the  sun's  light  into  pride,  and 
will  always  be  mounting  above  the  source  of  love, 
whereupon  follows  scorn  and  contempt  of  meekness 
and  of  all  that  is  lowly. 

34.  And  here  man  should  prove  or  try  himself, 
and  recognize  which  world  is  lord  in  him.  If  he 
find  that  anger,  wrath,  envy,  falsehood,  lying  and 
deceit  is  his  desire;  also  pride,  avarice,  and  con- 
tinual greed  of  honour  and  earthly  pleasure,  that 
he  is  but  a  perpetual  itch  for  wantonness  and  lewd- 
ness; then  he  may  know  with  certainty  that  he 
burns  with  anger,  wrath,  en\y,  falsehood,  lying 
and  deceit  in  the  dark,  viz.  in  the  dark  world's 
fire.  For  this  fire  gives  such  essence,  desire  and 
will. 

35.  And  the  other  desire,  viz.  earthly  pleasure, 


86         SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 

pride,  thirst  for  honour,  avarice,  and  the  perpetual 
wanton  bestial  itch  of  concupiscence,  is  the  fruit 
which  grows  out  of  the  dark  world  in  the  outer 

world. 

36.  As  love  buds  out  of  death  (where  the  spirit 
of  the  will  yields  up  itself  to  the  fire  of  God,  and 
sinks  down  as  it  were  in  death,  but  buds  forth  in 
God's  kingdom  with  a  friendly  desire  always  to  do 
well)  ;  so  hath  the  will  of  wickedness  given  itself  to 
perdition,  viz.  to  wrathful,  stern,  eternal  death,  but 
buds  forth  with  its  twig  in  this  corrupt  world  in 
outer  nature,  and  bears  such  fruit. 

37.  By  this  should  every  one  learn  to  know  him- 
self, he  need  only  search  for  his  distinctive  property. 
To  whatever  his  will  constantly  drives  him,  in  that 
kingdom  does  he  stand;  and  he  is  not  a  man  as 
he  accounts  himself  and  pretends  to  be,  but  a 
creature  of  the  dark  world,  viz.  a  greedy  hound,  a 
proud  bird,  a  lustful  animal,  a  fierce  serpent,  an 
envious  toad  full  of  poison.  All  these  properties 
spring  in  him,  and  are  his  wood  from  which  his  fire 
burns.  When  the  outer  wood,  or  the  substance  of 
four  elements,  abandons  him  at  his  death,  then  the 
inner  poisonous  evil  quahty  alone  remains. 

38.  What  figure  now  must  stand  in  such  a  qual- 
ity? None  else  but  what  was  strongest  amongst 
these  properties ;  this  is  figured  in  the  hellish  Fiat  in 
his  form,  as  a  venomous  serpent,  a  dog  or  other 
beast.  The  property  to  which  the  spirit  of  the  will 
has  given  itself  up,  that  same  property  is  afterward 
the  soul's  image.     And  this  is  one  part. 

39.  Further,  man  should  prove  or  try  himself 


|i 


THE  FIFTH  POINT  8T 

in  his  desire  (for  every  man  has  these  evil  properties 
in  him) ,  to  see  whether  he  finds  in  himself  a  constant 
longing  to  kill  this  poison  and  malignity ;  whether 
he  be  enemy  to  this  poison ;  or  whether  he  hath  his 
delight  in  continually  putting  the  false  poison  into 
operation,  viz.  in  pride,  covetousness,  envy,  Ucen- 
tiousness,  lying  and  deceit. 

40.  Now,  if  he  find  in  himself  that  he  hath  his 
delight  therein,  and  is  always  ready  to  put  the  same 
into  practice,  then  he  is  not  a  man,  as  he  accounts 
himself  to  be;  but  the  devil  in  a  strange  form 
deceives  him,  so  that  he  believes  he  is  a  man.  But 
he  bears  not  God's  but  the  serpent's  image;  and  is 
only  in  the  external  kingdom  a  likeness  to  an  image 
of  man,  so  long  as  he  remains  in  this  property  so 
that  this  property  is  supreme  lord. 

41.  But  if  he  find  strife  and  combat  within  him, 
that  his  inner  will  always,  yea,  hourly,  fights  against 
these  evil  properties,  suppresses  them,  and  suffers 
them  not  to  attain  to  evil  being;  that  he  would  fain 
always  do  well,  and  yet  finds  that  these  evil  prop- 
erties hinder  him,  so  that  he  cannot  accomplish 
what  he  would;  and  finds  the  desire  for  abstinence 
and  repentance,  that  a  perpetual  desire  after  God's 
mercy  springs  in  him,  so  that  he  would  gladly  do 

well  if  he  could: 

42.  This  man  may  think  and  assuredly  know 
that  God's  fire  glimmers  in  him,  and  continually 
labours  towards  the  hght.  It  would  fain  burn,  and 
is  always  giving  essence  for  flame;  but  is  quenched 
by  the  evil  humidity  of  this  world,  which  Adam  has 
introduced  into  us. 


88  SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 

43.  But  when  the  outer  evil  body  with  its  vapours 
perishes,  so  that  it  can  no  longer  obstruct  the 
ghmmering  wick,  then  the  divine  fire  becomes 
enkindled  in  its  essence,  and  the  divine  image  is 
figured  according  to  the  strongest  quality  which  the 
man  has  here  carried  in  his  desire.  If,  however,  he 
continue  not  in  the  above-mentioned  warfare,  but 
drops  the  struggle,  he  may  again  deteriorate  most 
dangerously. 

44.  The  third  proof  and  trial  is  this,  that  a  man 
recognize  in  what  being  or  figure  he  stands.  If  he 
find  that  he  hath  a  constant  desire  after  God,  and 
in  his  desire  is  so  strong  that  he  can  again  break 
and  transform  into  gentleness  the  evil  essences, 
as  often  as  for  him  a  quality  becomes  enkindled; 
that  he  is  able  to  let  all  go  that  shines  and  glitters 
in  this  world;  that  he  can  do  good  for  evil; 
that  he  hath  full  mastery  over  all  his  worldly 
substance,  be  it  money  or  goods,  to  give  thereof 
to  the  needy  and  for  God's  truth  to  abandon  it 
all;  and  freely  and  willingly  for  God's  sake  resign 
himself  to  misery  in  assured  hope  of  that  which 
is  eternal :  for  him  the  divine  power  flows,  so  that  he 
may  kindle  the  light  of  the  kingdom  of  joy  therein; 
he  tastes  what  God  is.  He  is  the  most  undoubted 
man,  and  carries  the  divine  image  with  heavenly 
essence  in  himself  even  in  the  time  of  the  outer 

body. 

45.  There  Jesus  is  born  of  the  Virgin,  and  that 
man  never  dies.  He  lets  pass  from  him  only  the 
earthly  kingdom,  which  was  to  him  in  this  time  an 
opposition   and  hindrance,  with   which   God   has 


THE  FIFTH  POINT  89 

concealed  him.     For  God  will  not  cast  pearls  before 
swine ;  they  are  hidden  in  Him. 

46.  This  same  new  man  dwells  not  in  this  world ; 
neither  doth  the  devil  know  him,  only  he  is  hostile 
to  his  essence,  which  contains  the  inward  centre; 
for  it  impedes  him  that  his  will  is  not  done.  And 
therefore  he  incites  the  evil  animal-men  against  him, 
to  vex  and  persecute  him,  so  that  the  true  humanity 
remains  concealed. 


90 


SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 


CHAPTER  VIII 

Of  the  right  human  essence  from  God's 

essence, 

1.  The  right  true  human  essence  is  not  earthly, 
nor  from  the  dark  world ;  it  is  generated  only  in  the 
light-world;  it  has  no  communion  or  fellowship 
with  the  dark  world,  nor  with  the  outer  world; 
there  is  a  great  bar,  viz.  death,  between  them. 

2.  Not  that  there  is  nothing  of  the  true  essence 
in  the  external  man.  It  is  there;  for  it  was  given 
to  Adam  in  his  image.  But  it  is  shut  up  and  lies 
in  death,  and  cannot  quahfy;  neither  has  it  any 
motion  in  itself,  unless  it  becomes  quick  in  the  power 
of  the  Deity.  As  it  became  quick  in  the  Virgin 
Mary  by  God's  motion  and  entrance;  there  the 
right  human  essence  came  again  to  life. 

3.  So  also  in  us  the  right  human  essence  is  not 
stirring,  except  we  be  born  of  God  in  Christ. 

4.  In  the  baptism  of  infants  the  Word  of  God 
enters  into  union  and  connection  with  them  in  the 
covenant,  and  is  the  first  stirring  in  this  world ;  as  a 
smouldering  in  wood  that  begins  to  glimmer,  but 
the  wicklet  is  often  after  darkened  and  extin- 
guished. Moreover,  in  many  a  child  that  is  begot- 
ten of  wholly  godless  essence,  it  is  not  susceptible. 

5.  Christ  said:  Suffer  little  children  to  come  unto 
me,  for  of  such  is  the  kingdom  of  God  (Mark  x.  14) . 
Not  dogs,  wolves,  toads  or  serpents,  but  children, 


THE  FIFTH  POINT  91 

in  whom  the  essence  is  not  wholly  devilish.  For 
many  a  child  is  baptized  in  the  wrath  of  God,  for 
which  the  parents  are  to  blame.  An  evil  tree  bears 
evil  fruit,  says  Christ. 

6.  And  though  He  is  come  into  this  world  to 
save  what  was  lost,  yet  it  depends  also  on  the 
essence  of  that  which  will  let  itself  be  helped.  For 
an  animal-man  may  attain  the  image  [of  God],  if 
he  turn  round  and  suffer  the  Word  that  became 
man  to  draw  him.  If  not,  then  he  remains  in  his 
animal  essence  an  evil  beast. 

7.  But  we  are  not  to  suppose  that  baptism  lays 
the  first  foundation  of  the  human  essence,  and  is 
wholly  the  first  enkindling  cause  of  the  divine  fire. 
No,  that  is  not  so;  for  a  child  becomes  through 
the  parents'  essence  a  spirit,  as  also  flesh  and  blood, 
with  espousal  of  the  constellation  of  the  spirit 
majoris  mundi. 

8.  At  the  time  when  a  child  in  the  womb  has 
attained  to  life,  then  immediately  divine  or  hellish 
essence  glimmers  from  the  primal  fount  and  origin. 

9.  And  if  but  a  small  spark  of  the  divine  essence 
be  active,  the  child  is  susceptible  of  baptism.  And 
though  it  should  die  unbaptized,  yet  the  spark  is 
in  God's  Mystery,  and  glimmers  in  God's  king- 
dom, and  is  kindled  in  the  fire  of  God.  For  it 
dies  in  the  Mysterium  of  the  Father,  and  glimmers 
up  in  the  Mysterium  of  the  Son  who  became  man. 

10.  The  parents'  baptism  and  covenant  is  its 
baptism  and  covenant.  The  reconciliation  has 
taken  place  in  human  blood,  in  the  right  true  human 
essence.     God's  word  or  heart  has  given  itself  to 


1 1 


92  SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 

the  shut  up,  dead,  human  essence;  not  to  the 
earthly  part,  but  to  the  heavenly  part.  Not  to 
the  part  that  Adam  by  his  imagination  introduced, 
which  is  earth;  but  to  the  part  which  was  given 
to  Adam  from  the  angelic  world,  which  he  cor- 
rupted and  poisoned  with  the  earthly  craving  for 
in  the  craving  earthly,  coarse,  animal  flesh  was 

produced. 

11.  This  part  has  the  right  human  essence,  and 
in  this  part  God  became  man.  And  this  same  part 
has  the  ground  of  the  angehc  world,  for  it  takes  its 
origin  from  the  angelic  world. 

12.  But  if  most  frequently  godless  parents  are 
inmiersed  wholly  in  the  wrath  of  God, :  .id  so  beget 
children  in  the  wrath;  then  is  their  seer«  shut  up 
in  death,  and  has  in  it  nothing  of  the  rigiit  human 
essence,  which  is  moving,  save  only  what  the 
constellation  in  the  spirit  majoris  mundi  has  in 
itself.  There  certainly  the  divine  power  has  some 
movement;  but  the  wrath's,  power  exis'.s  as 
opposite,  and  is  heavy.  Nevertheless,  there  is  no 
impossibility;  for  the  incarnation  of  God,  his 
becoming  man,  is  presented  to  all  souls  in  the  life's 

light. 

13.  But  baptism  contains  something  else.  God's 
essence  (as  the  water  of  eternal  hfe  born  of  God's 
gentleness)  must  move  the  right  human  essence 
*(with  Adam  shut  up  in  death),  and  yield  itself  up 
there  as  a  new  life  or  a  living  essence.  God's  water 
must  baptize;  the  Holy  Spirit  must  be  the  operant. 

14.  But  I  say,  according  to  my  knowledge,  that 
the  water  of  eternal  Ufe,  upon  which  the  Holy 


THE  FIFTH  POINT  93 

Spirit  broods,  will  hardly  yield  itself  up  to  the 
poison  of  wrath  and  death,  where  there  is  not  an 
essence  of  desire  [toward  God] . 

15.  I  say,  then,  that  a  child  (as  soon  as  it  has  life 
in  the  womb)  is,  so  far  as  the  divine  essence  is 
moving  in  the  heavenly  part,  already  baptized  by 
the  Holy  Spirit,  and  attains  the  incarnation  of 
Christ.  For  baptism  depends  not  on  the  priest's 
power,  that  the  Holy  Spirit  should  wait  upon  him. 
The  incarnation  of  Christ  waited  not  upon  man's 
power,  but  upon  the  goal  that  God  set  in  his 
covenant.  This  goal  was  blessed.  Therefore  the 
angel  said  to  Mary:  Blessed  art  thou  among 
women.  The  goal  lay  in  her,  and  was  blessed, 
and  blessed  her  also  when  God's  heart  awakened 
the  goal. 

16.  This  goal  reached  back  to  Adam,  and  for- 
ward to  the  last  man.  When  God  became  man, 
the  goal  was  awakened  in  the  heavenly  part;  not 
only  in  Mary,  but  also  in  Adam  and  Eve,  and  all 
their  children  who  had  given  themselves  up  to  God ; 
these  were  all  blessed  in  the  goal. 

17.  For  that  is  the  covenant  of  grace  which  God 
established  with  Adam  and  Eve.  This  covenant 
is  in  all  human  essence,  but  not  in  devihsh  essence. 

18.  But  baptism  is  the  seal  that  God  affixed  to 
the  covenant,  as  in  the  old  testament  circumcision. 
In  baptism  God  gives  divine  water  to  the  human 
race  as  a  pledge  and  seal;  but  the  covenant  is 
already  there  before  baptism;  it  was  made  in 
paradise,  yea  before  the  foundation  of  the  world. 
As  soon  as  a  soul  is  stirring  in  the  womb,  so  that 


94         SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 

a  human  soul  is  born,  it  is  in  the  covenant.  For 
Christ  has  given  himself  to  the  fire  of  God,  to  the 
principle,  and  fulfilled  the  covenant,  and  is  become 
the  result  of  the  testament. 

19.  This  result  waits  not  upon  any  external  ordi- 
nance, upon  the  delusion  of  the  outer  man;  but  as 
soon  as  a  soul  is  born  from  the  principle,  it  is  in  the 
result  of  the  testament,  so  far  as  the  divine  life  is 
moving  in  it.  But  not  in  godless  souls;  in  them 
the  divine  life  must  first  be  born.  God's  wrath 
swallows  up  many  a  soul  still  in  essence,  before  it 
attains  the  principle ;  because  it  is  from  false  essence, 
from  evil  seed  of  the  parents. 

20.  Reason  says:  What  can  a  child  do  to  this, 
that  the  parents  are  wicked  ?  Nay,  what  can  even 
God  do?  It  is  in  the  parents'  power  to  get  a  child. 
What  can  God  do  to  this,  that  whores  and  profli- 
gates creep  together?  Though  the  false  tree 
springs  not  thus  from  this  line  only,  but  also  in 
marriage.  Man  is  free;  if  he  awaken  no  hfe,  his 
seed  remains  an  essence.  Shall  God,  because  of  the 
child's  innocency,  cast  pearls  before  swine?  The 
kingdom  of  heaven  confronts  it;  let  it  enter,  God 
closes  the  kingdom  of  heaven  to  none. 

21.  But  a  bad  man  is  shut  up  in  body  and  soul, 
why  not  also  in  the  seed?  The  seed  is  truly  the 
fruit  of  his  body.  If  we  would  reap  good  wheat, 
we  of  right  sow  wheat;  but  if  thistle  seed  be  sown, 
a  thistle  gi^ows  from  it.  Must  God  then  change 
that  into  wheat?  Has  not  the  sower  power  to 
sow  in  his  field  what  he  pleases?  Or  wilt  thou 
say;  What  can  the  thistle  do  to  this,  that  it  is 


THE  FIFTH  POINT  95 

a  thistle  and  pricks?     It  belongs  not  among  the 
wheat,  but  grows  up  itself  along  with  it. 

22.  God  were  certainly  content  though  no  thistle- 
child  did  grow;  it  is  not  his  ordinance.  But  the 
devil  sows  weeds  amongst  the  wheat,  viz.  in  the 
heart  of  man.  Why  does  man  suffer  this  and  de- 
stroy himself,  so  that  his  essence  becomes  a  thistle- 
seed,  and  yields  weeds  to  the  fire  in  the  wrath  of 
God?  It  is  not  all  attributable  to  the  seed,  but 
depends  on  the  field.  Many  a  noble  grain  perishes 
in  the  evil  field's  essence.  The  heavens  with  the 
sun  give  life  and  power  to  all  growth.  The  sun 
makes  no  weeds,  neither  desires  any ;  but  the  essence 
in  the  field  makes  oftentimes  another  thing,  and 
destroys  the  good. 

23.  So  also  in  man.  IMany  a  curse  sticks  which 
one  wishes  the  other,  when  the  other  has  provoked 
it,  and  is  apt  for  it;  as  indeed  is  common  among 
godless  married  people,  one  wishing  the  other  the 
devil  and  hell-fire.  If  then  they  both  be  godless, 
should  not  then  their  godless  will  be  realized  to 
them,  by  their  begetting  godless  children?  There 
is  not  anything  that  is  good  in  them,  what  good 
thing  then  shall  come  out  of  them?  What  can  God 
do  to  this?  He  sets  his  word  and  teaching  before 
them,  and  announces  to  them  tiheir  destruction. 
If  they  will  not  regard  it,  let  them  go  whither  they 
please.  So  too  is  their  seed;  and  thus  many  a  child 
is  born  a  thistle  and  evil  beast,  and  is  baptized  in  the 
wrath  of  God. 

24.  For,  of  what  essence  the  soul's  spirit  is,  in 
such  an  essence  it  receives  also  the  divine  nature 


96  SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 

in  the  covenant:  one  in  the  power  of  light,  in  love; 
another  in  the  power  of  wrath,  in  darkness. 

25.  The  covenant  at  baptism  stands  firm.  Every 
child  is  baptized  in  the  covenant;  the  Spirit  of 
God  baptizes  each  one,  if  we  observe  the  customary 
form,  but  in  accordance  with  the  child's  property. 
Often  the  father  and  mother,  as  also  the  baptizer, 
are  godless,  and  only  evil  beasts,  and  there  is  no  real 
earnestness.  The  outward  pomp  and  the  money  is 
the  main  point  with  them;  they  despise  the  mystery. 
Here  the  child  is  wholly  in  the  property  of  wrath. 
Who  then  shall  baptize?  None  other  than  the 
wrath  of  God  in  his  covenant,  for  that  men  do  but 
make  a  mock  of  it. 

26.  Thus  the  source  of  wrath  seizes  the  new 
spirit,  works  powerfully  in  it,  and  brings  forth  fruit 
to  perdition.  As  St.  Paul  says  of  the  other  testa- 
ment, that  the  wicked  man  receives  it  unto  judg- 
ment, not  discerning  the  Lord's  body  (1  Cor.  xi. 
29).  That  is,  he  distinguishes  not  in  himself  the 
heavenly  part  of  his  essence  from  the  earthly,  to  put 
his  will  into  the  heavenly  and  offer  this  up  to  God ; 
but  deems  all  common,  as  an  ox  eats  the  fodder. 

27.  Therefore  the  wrath  of  God  springs  in  him,  so 
that  he  doth  not  break  off  his  will  from  the  earthly 
and  repent  of  his  wickedness.  His  heavenly  part 
cannot  become  partaker  of  God's  body,  because 
he  cannot  awaken  the  essence  of  the  heavenly 
part.  Thus  it  has  no  mouth  to  receive  God's  body, 
the  mouth  being  shut  up  in  death.  The  earthly 
part,  however,  receives  Christ's  body,  but  according 
to  the  property  of  wrath,  according  to  the  prop- 


il 


THE  FIFTH  POINT  97 

erty  of  the  dark  world;  for  the  testament  must 
stand. 

28.  In  like  manner  is  baptism.  According  as 
the  soul's  essence  is  in  being,  so  also  does  it  enjoy 
God's  covenant.  It  were  better  a  wholly  godless 
child  were  not  baptized,  and  that  a  wicked  man  in 
his  sins  without  conversion  did  not  touch  God's 
testament;  for  it  brings  them  both  only  power  to 
perdition.  God's  covenant  is  never  moved  without 
fruit.  God  works  in  his  covenant  according  to  his 
word. 

29.  As  is  the  soul  which  moves  the  covenant,  so 
is  the  medicament  in  the  covenant,  and  in  such  a 
power  the  Spirit  of  God  works  in  love  and  wrath; 
for  he  is  the  spirit  of  every  life,  and  assimilates 
himself  to  every  life.  He  is  in  every  thing  as  the 
thing's  will  and  property  is,  for  one  property  seizes 
the  other.  What  the  soul  wills,  that  he  wills  also, 
and  thereinto  the  soul  enters. 

30.  It  is  all  magical;  what  the  will  of  a  thing 
wills,  that  it  receives.  A  toad  takes  only  poison 
into  itself;  though  it  sit  in  the  best  apothecary's 
shop;  the  like  also  does  a  serpent.  Every  thing 
takes  only  its  own  property  into  itself ;  and  though 
it  eat  the  substance  of  a  good  property,  yet  it  con- 
verts all  in  itself  into  its  own  property.  Though 
a  toad  should  eat  honey,  yet  this  becomes  poison  in 
it.  As  indeed  the  devil  was  an  angel ;  but  when  he 
willed  nothing  good,  his  heavenly  essence  became 
to  him  hellish  poison,  and  his  evil  will  remained  evil 
one  time  as  another. 

31.  We  are  therefore  highly  to  consider  our  life, 


jltx«AUi«i«U«'  ^.3^&i''^!:sstJiymm'^'^^*»^''^^ 


\ 


98         SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 

what  we  would  do  and  be  at.  We  have  evil  and 
good  in  us.  The  one  wherein  we  draw  our  will, 
its  essence  becomes  active  in  us;  and  such  a  prop- 
erty we  draw  also  from  without  into  us.  We 
have  the  two  Mysteries,  the  divine  and  the  deviUsh 
in  us,  of  the  two  eternal  worlds,  and  also  of  the 
outer  world.  What  we  make  of  ourselves,  that  we 
are;  what  we  awaken  in  ourselves,  that  is  moving 
in  us.  If  we  lead  ourselves  to  good,  then  God's 
Spirit  helps  us;  but  if  we  lead  ourselves  to  evil, 
then  God's  wrath  and  anger  helps  us.  Whatever 
we  will,  of  that  property  we  obtain  a  leader,  and 
thereinto  we  lead  ourselves.  It  is  not  God's  will 
that  we  perish,  but  his  wrath's  and  our  own  will. 

And  thus  we  understand  the  fifth  point..  How 
a  hfe  perishes,  and  how  out  of  good  an  evil  comes, 
and  out  of  evil  a  good,  when  the  will  turns  round. 


u 


'A 


THE  SIXTH  POINT 

Of  the  life  of  darkness^  wherein  the  devils 
dwell;  what  birth  and  quality  it  hath. 

CHAPTER  IX 

1.  The  life  of  darkness  is  repugnant  to  all  life 
of  light;  for  the  darkness  gives  fierce  and  hostile 
essence,  and  the  life  of  light  gives  love-essence. 

2.  In  the  darkness  there  is  in  the  essence  only 
a  perpetual  stinging  and  breaking,  each  form  being 
enemy  to  the  other— a  contrarious  essence.  Each 
form  is  a  liar  to  itself,  and  one  says  to  the  other, 
that  it  is  evil  and  adverse  to  it,  that  it  is  a  cause 
of  its  restlessness  and  fierceness.  Each  thinks  in 
itself:  If  only  the  other  form  were  not,  thou  wouldst 
have  rest;  and  yet  each  of  them  is  evil  and  false. 
Hence  it  is,  that  all  that  is  born  of  the  dark  property 
of  wrath  is  lying,  and  is  always  lying  against  the 
other  forms,  saying  they  are  evil;  and  yet  it  is 
itself  a  cause  thereof,  it  makes  them  evil  by  its 
poisonous  infection. 

3.  Thus  are  they  all,  and  lying  is  their  truth. 
When  they  speak  "lies,  they  speak  from  their  own 
forms  and  properties.  And  so  also  are  their 
creatures.  Therefore  Christ  said:  The  devil  is  a 
liar  and  murderer  from  the  beginning  (John  viii. 
44) .     For  each  form  desires  to  murder  the  other, 

99 


100        SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 

and  yet  there  is  no  killing;  but  the  greater  the 
strife  is,  the  greater  becomes  their  murderous 
hfe. 

4.  And  therefore  it  is  called  an  eternal  death 
and  enmity,  where  nothing  but  contrariety  arises. 
For  there  is  nothing  that  could  abohsh  the  strife, 
nothing  that  could  hold  in  check  a  single  form. 
The  more  it  were  resisted,  the  greater  would  be 
the  fierceness ;  like  a  fire  that  is  stirred,  whereby  it 
burns  but  the  more. 

5.  Thus  the  fierce  wrathful  kingdom  can  be 
extinguished  by  nothing,  save  only  by  God's  light, 
by  which  it  becomes  wholly  gentle,  lovely  and  full 
of  joy.  And  neither  can  that  be;  for  if  the  dark 
kingdom  were  to  be  kindled  with  the  light,  the  light 
would  have  no  root  to  its  nature  and  property,  no 
fire  could  be  generated,  neither  were  there  any 
light,  nor  any  power,  but  all  were  a  nothing. 

6.  Hence  the  kingdom  of  wrath  must  be,  for  it 
is  a  cause  of  the  fire-world  and  the  light-world,  and 
all  is  God's.  But  all  is  not  acknowledged  as  or 
called  God,  as  the  dark  world  has  another  prop- 
erty, and  the  light-world  is  a  cause  of  the  fierce- 
ness and  terror  of  the  dark  property ;  for  the  dark- 
ness is  terrified  at  the  light,  and  stands  in  eternal  ter- 
ror because  the  light-world  dwells  in  it.  It  trembles 
eternally  before  the  light,  and  yet  cannot  apprehend 
it ;  but  is  only  a  cause  of  life  and  of  movement.  And 
thus  all  must  be  subservient  to  the  glory  of  God. 

7.  The  life  of  darkness  has  many  forms ;  it  is  not 
one  and  the  same  property.  As  we  are  to  recognize 
by  the  creatm^es  of  this  world,  where  one  is  always 


w 


THE  SIXTH  POINT  101 

worse  than  the  other,  also  has  its  subsistence  in 
a  different  source  from  the  other;  who  nevertheless 
all  live  in  the  sun's  power  and  light,  by  which  they 
are  meekened. 

8.  But  if  the  sun  were  to  be  extinguished,  then 
would  the  deep  be  wrathful  and  stinging.  Then 
we  should  soon  see  the  property  of  the  dark  world, 
how  all  creatures  would  become  poisonous   and 

evil. 

9.  For  every  life  is  rooted  in  poison.  The  light 
alone  resists  the  poison,  and  yet  is  a  cause  that  the 
poison  lives  and  faints  not. 

10.  We  are  therefore  to  recognize  that  the  hfe 
of  darkness  is  only  a  fainting  poison,  like  a  dying 
source;  and  vet  there  is  no  dying  there.  For 
the  light-world  stands  opposed  to  the  mirror  of 
darkness,   whereby   the   darkness   is   eternally   in 

terror. 

11.  The  dark  life  is  like  a  terror,  where  the  flash 
and  terror  is  always  mounting  upwards,  as  if  it 
would  quit  the  life  and  fly  out  above  it.  And  hence 
arises  pride,  so  that  the  devil  is  always  wishing 
to  be  above  God;  it  is  his  proprium,  his  life's  figure 
is  so,  and  he  cannot  do  otherwise.  Just  as  a  poison 
rages  and  pierces,  as  if  it  would  break  loose  from 

the  member; 

12.  So  is  the  hfe  of  darkness  in  itself.  The 
poisonful  essences  make  such  an  inward  disposi- 
tion, and  from  the  disposition  proceeds  such  a 
will-spirit.  There  is  such  a  property  therein,  and 
consists  of  seven  forms,  according  to  the  centre  of 
Nature  with  its  principle.     As  the  life  of  joy  con- 


102        SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 

sists  of  seven  forms  by  right  of  Nature,  so  also 
does  the  life  of  sorrowfulness.  That  which  in 
the  light  gives  joy,  in  the  darkness  gives  sorrow- 
fulness. 

13.  And  yet  it  is  not  to  be  thought  that  the  life 
of  darkness  therefore  sinks  down  into  misery,  that 
it  would  forget  itself  as  if  it  were  sorrowful.  There 
is  no  sorrowing;  but  what  with  us  on  earth  is 
sorrowing  according  to  this  property,  is  in  the  dark- 
ness power  and  joy  according  to  the  property  of  the 
darkness.  For  sorrowfulness  is  a  thing  that  is 
swalllowed  up  in  death.  But  death  and  dying  is 
the  life  of  the  darkness,  just  as  anguish  is  the  hfe  of 
the  poison.  The  greater  the  anguish  becomes  in 
the  poison,  the  stronger  becomes  the  poison-hfe,  as 
is  to  be  seen  in  the  external  poison. 

14.  We  cannot,  then,  say  of  the  devil  that  he 
sits  in  dejection,  as  if  he  were  faint-hearted.  There 
is  no  faint-heartedness  in  him,  but  a  constant  will 
to  kindle  the  poison-source  more,  that  his  fierce- 
ness may  become  greater.  For  this  fierceness  is 
his  strength,  wherein  he  draws  his  will  to  mount 
above  the  thrones  and  inflame  them.  He  would 
be  a  mighty  lord  in  the  poison-source,  for  it  is  the 
strong  and  great  hfe.  But  the  light  is  his  misery 
and  dread;  that  checks  his  bravery.  He  is  terri- 
fied at  the  light;  for  it  is  his  true  poison,  which 
torments  him.  Because  he  abandoned  it,  it  now 
resists  him.  Of  which  he  is  ashamed,  that  he  is 
thus  a  deformed  angel  in  a  strange  image.  He 
would  be  content  with  the  source  of  wrath,  if  only 


THE  SIXTH  POINT  103 

the  light  were  not  so  near  him.     Shame  is  therefore 
so  great  in  him  that  he  grows  furious,  and  kindles 
his  poisonous  source  more  and  more,  so  that  his 
figure  becomes  increasingly  horrible,  and  the  divine 
image  is  not  recognized  in  him.     He  aims  only  at 
how  he  may  storm  and  rage  against  God,  as  if  he 
were  a  foreign  thing,  or  a  foreign  power,  as  if  he 
had  a  foreign  kingdom;  whereas  he  is  poor,  and 
the  dark  kingdom  is  not  his,  but  he  is  only  a  pris- 
oner in  it.     It  is  God's  abyss ;  he  is  only  a  creature 
therein.     He  would  be  lord  therein,   and  yet  is 
but   a  juggler  with  the   fierceness;   although   he 
must  act  according  to  the  property.     And  this  is 
also  a  wonder  before  the  stern  might  of  eternity. 
It  is  as  a  sport  wherewith  the  stern  might  hath 
its  dissipation,  by  which  it  is  distinguished  what 
evil   or   good,    joy    or    sorrow,    is;    and   that    the 
creatures  in  the  light-world  have  cause  to  humble 
themselves.     And  yet  God  created  no  devil,  nor 
destined  Lucifer  for  the  dark  world.     But  this  is 
enmity   in   Lucifer,   that   he   was   an   angel,    and 
that  the  light  is  so  near  him  that  he  became  an 

apostate. 

15.  There  is  no  pain  in  the  creatures  which  have 
been  created  in  the  dark  world ;  for  they  are  of  the 
fierce  wrathful  property,  and  know  nothing  of  the 
light.  Fierceness  is  their  strength  and  might,  and 
enmity  their  will  and  life.  The  more  evil  and 
hostile  a  creature  is  in  the  dark  world,  the  greater 
is  its  might.  As  the  powerful  tyrants  of  this  world 
often  exhibit  their  power  in  malignity,  so  that  men 


104        SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 

must  fear  them,  or  as  tame  animals  are  afraid  of 
ferocious  ones ;  so'  has  this  hkewise  a  property  in 
the  dark  world. 

16.  If  we  will  rightly  consider  the  property  of 
the  dark  world,  let  us  look  upon  the  malice  and 
pride  of  this  world,  which  is  a  figure  or  type.  For 
all  malice,  falsehood,  pride  and  covetousness  has 
its  root  from  the  dark  world;  it  is  the  property  of 
the  dark  world,  whether  it  be  recognized  in  men  or 
beasts. 

17.  For  this  world  rests  upon  the  foundation  of 
the  dark  world.  The  dark  world  gives  to  this  world 
essence,  will  and  quality.  And  had  not  the  good 
been  introduced  also  at  creation,  there  would  be 
no  other  doing  or  will  in  this  world  than  in  the  dark 
world.  But  the  divine  power  and  the  sun's  light 
hinder  that.  As  is  to  be  seen  among  men  and 
beasts,  how  there  is  a  biting,  hating  and  striking, 
and  an  arrogant  self-will,  each  wishing  to  rule  over 
the  other,  to  kill  and  devour  the  other,  and  elevate 
itself  alone;  also  to  trample  upon  everything  with 
guile,  wrath,  malice  and  falsehood,  and  make  itself 

lord. 

18.  In  like  manner  the  dark  world  has  such  a 
property.  What  all  wicked  men  in  this  world  do 
in  their  malice  and  falsehood,  that  also  the  devils 
do  in  the  dark  world ;  and  what  the  poisonous  evil 
worms  and  beasts  in  their  malignity  do,  that  also 
the  other  creatures  do  in  the  dark  world.  Though 
they  are  without  such  a  body,  yet  they  have  such 
a  property  in  their  spiritual  body;  and  though  they 


THE  SIXTH  POINT  105 

have  a  body,  yet  it  is  after  the  fashion  of  spirit,  as 
the  devils  have  one. 

19.  The  birth,  being,  essence  and  dominion  of 
the  dark  world  lies  principally  in  the  first  four 
forms  of  Nature,  viz.  in  the  source  of  anguish,  in 
an  exceedingly  strong  and  powerful  dominion, 
where  all  in  the  essence  is  divulged.  For  gentleness 
is  the  enmity  of  the  wrath-power,  and  each  is  against 

the  other. 

20.  Else,  if  they  should  be  one,  there  would 
necessarily  be  but  one  quality;  and  if  there  were 
also  only  one  will,  the  eternal  wonders  could  not 
become  manifest.  But  the  manifold  quality  makes 
the  eternal  wonders  manifest.  For  eternity  could 
not  otherwise  become  manifest,  nor  attain  to  being, 
save  through  the  enkindling,  viz.  in  the  stern  harsh 
attraction  in  which  the  dark  world  stands,  and  in 
which  the  fire-world  and  also  the  light-world  take 
their  rise.  All  is  only  a  single  essence  or  substance, 
but  it  separates  itself  into  three  properties.  One 
property  is  not  separated  from  the  other,  but  each 
gives  the  other;  as  is  to  be  seen  in  fire  and  light, 
as  also  in  the  matter  from  which  the  fire  burns. 

21.  And  man  need  not  search  deeper,  for  he 
is  himself  the  essence  of  all  beings.  But  because 
he  has  in  his  creation  turned  aside  from  his  original 
order,  and  introduced  and  awakened  another  quality 
in  himself,  it  is  necessary  for  him  to  inquire  how 
he  may  re-enter  into  his  eternal  order  and  quahty, 
and  generate  himself  anew.  And  then,  how  he 
may  extinguish  the  fierce  wrathful  quality  which 


106       SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 

is  moving  in  him,  for  all  is  active  in  him  and  draws 
him,  both  evil  and  good.  Therefore  he  should  learn 
how  to  resist  wrath,  and  walk  in  meekness,  in  the 
quality  of  light  and  love. 

22.  Man,  moreover,  has  no  law  except  he  enkindle 
himself  in  the  dark  world's  property,  and  walk 
according  to  this  property.  Independently  of  that, 
all  is  free  to  him.  Whatsoever  he  doth  in  meekness 
and  love  is  without  restriction  for  him,  and  is  his 
proper  being;  it  consists  not  in  any  one's  name  or 
presumption. 

23.  All  that  is  grown  from  one  root  is  and  belongs 
to  one  tree,  it  is  but  one  manner  of  fruit;  un- 
less it  corrupt  itself,  so  that  the  very  essence 
changes. 

24.  As  long  as  a  thing  remains  in  the  essence 
from  which  it  arose,  it  has  no  law;  but  if  it  with- 
draw therefrom  into  another  quality,  the  first 
quality  hangs  unto  it,  and  is  in  conflict  with  the 
other.  And  then  law  ensues,  that  it  should  return 
again  into  that  which  it  originally  was,  and  be  one, 
not  two;  for  one  thing  should  exercise  only  one 
dominion,  not  two.  Man  was  created  in  the 
dominion  of  love  and  gentleness,  as  in  God's  Being, 
and  therein  he  was  to  remain. 

25.  But  because  he  was  awakened  another  do- 
minion, viz.  fierce  wrath,  he  is  now  in  combat  and 
strife,  and  has  laws,  that  he  may  mortify  and 
abandon  the  fierceness,  and  be  in  one  dominion 
again.  Since  then  both  dominions  are  become 
powerful  in  him,  and  the  dominion  of  wrath  has 
overpowered  love,  he  must  wholly  break  to  pieces 


THE  SIXTH  POINT  lOT 

in  substance,  and  be  re-born  again  from  the  first 
root.  And  therefore  he  has  in  this  twofold  being 
laws,  how  he  should  conduct  himself  and  generate 
a  will-spirit  unto  the  eternal  dominion. 

26.  All  this  lies  in  his  power.  He  may  bring 
forth  the  spirit  of  wrath  or  the  spirit  of  love,  and  in 
accordance  with  the  same  he  is  separated  whither 
and  into  which  world  he  belongs;  for  he  separates 
himself. 

27.  But  the  law  continues  over  him  as  long  as  he 
is  in  this  hfe  (field).  Then,  when  the  weed  sepa- 
rates from  this  field  of  the  body,  it  is  in  one  dominion 
again,  where  it  shall  remain  eternally;  for  after 
that  there  is  nothing  more  to  give  it  law,  inasmuch 

as  it  is  wholly  one  in  its  will,  either  to  do  evil  or 

» 

good. 

28.  But  in  this  external  life  man  is  in  combat  and 
strife.  Two  dominions,  qualities  and  laws  repose  in 
him.  The  divine  unto  love  and  righteousness ;  and 
the  wrathful  in  the  rising  of  pride  in  the  power  of 
fire,  in  the  stern,  harsh,  hellish  covetousness,  envy, 
anger  and  malice.  The  one  to  which  the  spirit 
unites  itself,  of  that  dominion  it  is.  The  other 
hangs  unto  it,  and  reproaches  it  to  its  face  as  a 
perjured  wretch  and  an  apostate;  but  neverthe- 
less draws  it,  and  will  have  it.  Thus  life  is  in  a 
desperate  strait  between  the  two,  and  is  at  odds 
with  itself. 

29.  But  if  it  resolve  rashly,  and  abandon  itself 
wholly  to  the  wrath,  then  the  fierce  wrath  destroys 
the  first  image  according  to  God.  And  if  it  can- 
not entirely,  because  the  divine  power  hinders  that. 


(I 


108       SIX  THEOSOPliiC  POINTS 

then  it  would  cast  the  whole  man  headlong;  and 
many  a  one  is  plunged  into  despair  in  this  anguish, 
so  that  he  lays  violent  hands  on  himself. 

3u.  Thus  the  soul  with  the  image  falls  unto  the 
wrathful,  dark  world;  and  the  image  is  brought 
into  a  hellish  figure,  into  a  form  of  its  property 
which  it  had  here.  So  it  fared  also  with  the  devils, 
who  have  lost  their  first  image. 

81  Every  devil  has  an  image  according  to  his 
property,  according  to  the  figure  of  the  wrath, 
in  accordance  with  its  quahty;  like  as  there  are 
horrible  worms  or  evil  beasts,  and  such  a  thing  has 
also  the  lost  soul  to  expect. 

32.  External  Reason  supposes  that  hell  is  far 
from  us.  But  it  is  near  us.  Every  one  carries 
it  in  himself,  unless  he  kill  the  hellish  poison  with 
God's  power,  and  bud  forth  therefrom  as  a  new 
twig,  which  the  hellish  quality  cannot  seize  or 
touch  (rilgen) . 

33.  Though  indeed  the  fierceness  of  hell  is  recog- 
nized more  in  one  place  than  in  another,  all 
according  to  the  hellish  dominion,  where  the  upper 
dominion  is  powerful  in  various  places  in  the  locus 
of  this  world;  all  according  to  the  fire  enkindling 
of  King  Lucifer,  as  in  many  places  of  the  earth, 
as  also  in  the  deep  between  the  stars  and  the 
earth,  is  the  hellish  quality  to  be  discerned  above 
other  places,  where  the  inner  fierceness  extends 
to  the  external  principle.  Here  then  are  distinct 
dominions  of  devils,  also  of  the  other  hellish 
properties ;  here  the  fierce  wrath  of  God  has  strongly 


THE  SIXTH  POINT  109 

infiamed  itself,  and  now  burns  until  the  judgment 
of  God. 

34.  Every  man  carries  heaven  and  hell  within 
hi  min  this  world.  The  property  which  he  awakens, 
the  same  burns  in  him,  and  of  that  fire  is  the  soul 
susceptible.  And  when  the  body  dies,  the  soul 
needs  to  go  nowhither,  but  it  is  committed  to  the 
hellish  dominion  of  which  it  is  the  property.  Those 
devils  who  are  of  its  property  await  it,  and  receive 
it  into  their  dominion  until  the  judgment  of  God. 
And  though  they  are  confined  to  no  place,  yet 
they  belong  to  the  same  dominion,  and  the  same 
quality  they  have  everywhere.  Wherever  they 
go,  they  are  in  the  same  dominion  and  quality; 
for  the  abyss  has  no  place,  neither  time  nor  space. 
As  it  was  before  the  times  of  the  world,  when  there 
was  no  place;  so  it  is  and  remains  so  eternally  in 
the  abyss. 

35.  And  though  the  place  of  this  world  was  given 
to  Lucifer  for  a  kingdom  (for  he  was  created 
therein),  yet  he  has  been  cast  out  from  place  and 
position,  and  dwells  in  the  abyss,  where  he  can 
never  reach  any  place  of  the  angelic  kingdom ;  but 
is  shut  up  in  his  own  realm  in  the  abyss,  where  he 
must  bear  eternal  reproach  as  a  prisoner.  As  is 
done  to  a  malefactor,  who  is  put  into  a  dark  dungeon 
away  from  all  the  beings  of  this  world,  where  he 
must  do  without  any  mundane  joy  or  pleasure  and 
bear  the  reproach  of  his  crime. 

36.  So  it  fares  also  with  the  devils,  and  with  all 
damned  souls,  who  he  captive  in  the  dark  prison. 


.  II 


^».u~-fa™^i-i,-*»*^«t^^^  '".r'^.'::'::' ,.„:.,'.  :^^:«™..;-:,^,,,J.i,_.2''^J^JBI 


110       SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 

Nor  do  they  desire  to  come  out,  because  of  the 
great  reproach  of  their  horrible  form  and  image. 
And  wherever  they  go,  yet  they  never  enjoy  any 
good;  there  is  among  them  no  refreshment.  But 
they  lie  in  hell  as  the  dead,  or  as  eternally  hungry, 
fainting  and  thirsty;  and  are  only  an  evil  poison- 
source.  All  is  to  them  adverse  and  contrary. 
They  have  only  a  thirst  after  anguish  and  malice; 
these  they  devour  eternally,  and  bring  forth 
blasphemies  upon  themselves.  The  more  horrible 
they  can  make  their  figure,  the  more  pleasing  that 
is  to  them.  Like  buffoons,  who  on  earth  would 
fain  be  always  the  greatest  fools,  give  themselves 
a  hideous  appearance,  and  have  their  delight 
therein;  so  they  do  also  eternally  in  hell,  and 
accordingly  they  begin  the  game  here  on  earth.  As 
the  tyrant  delights  when  he  can  torment  men,  and 
spend  their  sweat  in  show  and  luxury,  in  foolish 
strange  attire  and  behaviour,  and  ape  the  fool;  so 
do  also  the  devils  in  hell.  And  the  luxury  of  this 
world  in  its  strange  garb  is  a  true  type  of  the  hellish 
world. 

37.  All  the  curious  tassels  and  tufts  which  the 
proud  man  devises,  and  clothes  his  foolish  man 
therewith,  whereby  he  would  be  distinguished  from 
the  true  children  of  God,  are  types  of  the  hellish 
world.  All  his  bedizenment,  glittering  show  and 
ostentation,  by  which  he  withdraws  himself  from 
humihty,  is  a  hellish  mirror;  for  the  devil's  pride 
will  be  like  to  none,  it  keeps  itself  distinct  in  this 
world.  And  the  blind  man  understands  not  this, 
how  the  devil  fools  and  deceives  him,  and  thus  only 


THE  SIXTH  POINT  m 

to  mock  God  prefigures  his  own  proud  mask;  so 
that  the  poor  man  does  as  he  does,  and  thinks  he  is 
thereby  fine,  and  better  than  other  men,  whereas 
we  all  arise  and  proceed  from  one  body  and  spirit. 
But  before  God  and  his  angels  he  is  recognized 
only  as  a  devil's  mask,  and  is  in  the  sight  of  heaven 
an  abomination.  As  a  fool  in  comparison  with 
wisdom  is  but  an  abomination,  so  is  also  hypocritical 
pride  an  abomination  before  God  and  his  angels, 
in  presence  of  the  noble  image.  The  world  still 
cleaves  to  this  abomination,  and  therewith  marks 
out  the  corrupt  image  of  earthliness. 

38.  He  who  sees  a  proud  man  sees  the  heavy  fall 
of  Adam,  and  a  type  of  the  hellish  world;  a  half 
devil  and  half  man,  to  whom  the  devil  has  con- 
tinual access.  For  he  is  the  devil's  servant  in  this 
world;  the  devil  does  his  work  through  him,  and 
the  poor  man  knows  it  not,  and  so  enters  the  devil's 
service  to  his  eternal  reproach.  He  thinks  he  is 
thereby  fine  and  important,  and  is  thereby  in  the 
sight  of  God  only  as  a  fool,  who  puts  on  strange 
clothing  and  takes  to  himself  animal  form. 


112       SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 


CHAPTER  X 

Of  the  four  elements  of  the  devil  and  of  the  dark 
world;  how  we  shall  know  them  in  this  outer 
world. 

1.  The  first  element  of  the  dark  world  and  of  the 
devil  is  pride,  the  second  covetousness,  the  third 
envy,  the  fourth  anger.  These  four  elements  are 
everlastingly  hatching  a  young  son,  who  is  called 
Falsehood.  This  son  is  also  a  true  son  of  the 
corrupt  Adam,  whom  he  left  behind  him  to  be  a 
lord  of  the  world.  He  has  become  king  in  the 
world,  and  has  possessed  the  whole  world,  and 
rules  everywhere  in  the  third  principle.  Whoever 
rightly  knows  this  king,  knows  the  four  elements  of 
the  devil ;  for  in  the  dark  world  these  four  elements 
have  entire  dominion  in  spirit  and  body,  and  in  all 
that  is  called  being. 

2.  And  we  see  hereby  clearly  that  this  world 
rests  upon  the  foundation  of  these  four  elements, 
and  receives  from  them  tendency,  quality  and  will. 
For  the  son  of  these  four  elements  rules  on  earth; 
he  will  have  all  obedient  under  him,  and  has  four 
different  races  of  his  subjects.  (1)  The  race  of 
pride,  which  will  be  above  all  other,  and  will  put 
itself  on  a  level  with  none.  (2)  The  race  of 
covetousness,  which  will  alone  possess  all,  subdue  all 
under  it,  and  will  have  all.  This  second  race  is  the 
son  of  the  first,  for  pride  will  also  have  all,  that 


I 


THE  SIXTH  POINT  113 

it  alone  may  be  all.  (3)  The  third  race  is  envy, 
which  is  the  son  of  covetousness.  When  it  sees 
it  cannot  alone  have  all,  it  stings  like  a  poison,  and 
begrudges  anything  to  any  one.  Its  will  in  all 
things  is  either  to  draw  to  itself  and  possess  alone, 
or  to  rage  therein  with  an  evil  will.  (4)  The  fourth 
race  is  anger,  which  is  the  son  of  envy.  What  it 
cannot  attain  with  evil  will,  that  it  enkindles  in  the 
fire  of  wrath,  and  breaks  it  by  force.  It  brings 
about  war  and  slaughter,  and  would  destroy  every- 
thing.    This  race  would  subdue  all  by  violence. 

3.  These,  then,  are  the  four  elements  of  the  devil, 
all  which  four  are  in  one  another  as  one.  One 
proceeds  from  the  other,  and  one  gives  birth  to  the 
other.  They  take  their  origin  from  the  dark 
Nature,  viz.  from  sour,  bitter,  anguish  and  fire. 

4.  But  seeing  God's  power  is  for  them  an  opposi- 
tion, so  that  in  this  world  they  have  not  full 
dominion,  they  have  generated  a  crafty  son,  by 
whom  they  rule,  who  is  called  Falsehood.  He  takes 
the  coat  of  divine  colours  upon  him,  that  he  may 
not  be  known ;  and  wishes  to  be  called  a  son  of  truth 
and  virtue,  but  is  an  imposter.  He  speaks  in  one 
way,  and  thinks  and  acts  in  another.  He  carries 
the  lustre  of  God  on  his  tongue,  and  the  devil's 
power  and  poison  in  his  heart. 

5.  This  is  king  on  earth,  and  manages  two  king- 
doms. The  first  is  called  perdition;  the  second 
Babel,  a  confusion.  The  kingdom  of  perdition  this 
king  has  clothed  with  strength  and  might;  it  is 
the  garment  of  that  kingdom.  On  tlie  other  king- 
dom. Babel,  he  has  put  a  white  shining  garment. 


114        SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 

That  must  be  to  it  in  place  of  God,  and  with  that 
the  king  rules  on  earth  as  if  he  were  God.  And 
the  people  worship  this  garment;  and  beneath  it  is 
the  man  of  falsehood  and  deceit,  and  hath  in  him 
his  mother  the  four  elements,  viz.  pride,  covetous- 
ness,  envj^  and  anger. 

6.  Thus  the  four  elements  of  the  devil  rule  under 
a  hypocritical  coat,  and  men  strive  eagerly  for  this 
coat.  Eveiy  one  will  put  it  on;  but  he  who  puts 
it  on,  puts  on  hell  and  God's  wrath.  The  coat  is 
honoured  in  God's  stead,  and  is  the  coat  which  the 
wrath  of  God  did  put  on  Adam  and  Eve,  when  the 
devil  deceived  them,  so  that  they  fell  from  obedience 
to  God.  And  it  is  the  very  same  coat  of  which  God 
from  the  beginning  of  the  world  has  warned  us, 
that  we  should  not  put  it  on;  for  the  devil  has 
his  lodging  in  it.  When  we  put  it  on,  we  take  up 
our  abode  with  the  devil,  and  must  do  what  he 
pleases;  for  he  is  host  in  that  house,  and  rests  in 

that  coat. 

7.  Because  he  is  a  prisoner  of  God,  he  puts  his 
coat  on  us,  and  sends  us  therewith  to  Babel  into 
his  service,  where  we  cannot  but  mock  God;  for 
we  have  on  God's  coat,  and  the  devil  lodged  under 
it  as  guest.  Thus  the  tongue  gives  God's  good 
words,  and  the  heart  has  the  spirit  of  the  four 
elements  of  wrath ;  and  God  is  therefore  mocked  by 
the  devil,  that  God  shall  see  that  he,  the  devil,  is  lord 
and  king  over  men,  and  esteems  God's  dominion 
in  man  only  as  a  shining  coat,  in  which  he,  the  devil, 
is  man,  and  has  man  captive  in  his  arms.  He  covers 
him  indeed  with  the  coat,  and  allows  man  to  call 


THE  SIXTH  POINT  115 

himself  God's  child;  but  in  this  coat  man  does  only 
his  will  for  him,  so  that  all  that  the  devil  cannot  or 
may  not  do  in  the  external  kingdom,  that  man  does 
for  him  in  his  service.  The  devil  may  not  kill  any 
one,  and  man  does  it  readily  to  please  him.  Neither 
can  the  devil  use  God's  creatures,  and  man  misuses 
them  wilUngly  to  please  him,  thereby  to  mock  God. 
With  this  he  practises  pride  and  covetousness,  also 
falsehood  and  malice,  and  accomplishes  by  them 
all  that  the  devil  would  have ;  he  shines  also  there- 
with as  if  he  were  God. 

8.  The  external  kingdom  is  therefore  become  a 
perpetual  murderous  den  of  the  devil.  The  false 
and  pretended  man  (who  calls  himself  a  man,  but  is 
not)  does  butchery,  and  increases  God's  wrath, 
and  kindles  the  dark  Avorld  in  this  outer  world,  so 
that  God's  wrath  continually  burns  in  this  world. 

9.  Thus  God's  kingdom  is  hindered,  and  the 
devil's  will  done;  and  the  devil  remains  a  prince 
on  earth,  whereas  otherwise  he  could  accomplish 
nothing  on  earth.  The  pretended  man  is  in  his 
service,  and  does  his  will.  Two  species  of  men, 
then,  dwell  together  on  earth.  The  one  are  real 
true  men,  who  serve  God  in  the  coat  of  humihty 
and  misery,  whom  the  devil  derides  and  torments 
them  with  the  other  species,  and  in  their  case  brings 
all  his  wonders  to  pass  by  means  of  those  who  serve 

him. 

10.  The  other  species  also  calls  itself  men,  walk 
also  in  human  form,  but  they  are  evil  beasts.  They 
put  on  the  garment  of  their  King,  that  is  to  say, 
Falsehood;    and   live   in   the   power   of  the   four 


116       SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 

elements  of  their  king,  viz.  in  pride,  covetousness, 
envy  and  anger. 

11.  Pride  is  the  first  virtue.  It  snatches  the 
bread  from  the  mouth  of  the  real  man,  and  coerces 
the  wretched,  that  it  may  satisfy  itself.  It  insists 
that  nothing  shall  be  on  a  level  with  it;  it  will  be 
alone  the  fairest  child  in  the  house.  It  has  put 
on  the  coat  of  dissimulation,  and  would  be  called 
righteous;  people  must  honour  it  and  bow  them- 
selves before  it.  Nothing  must  compare  itself  to 
It.  It  will  be  lord,  and  says :  I  am  modest  in  my 
demeanour. 

12.  But  its  heart  is  covetousness.     That  is  the 
wolf,  and  devours  the  sweat  and  labour  of  the 
wretched.     Pride  mounts  up  above  all.     It  explores 
daily  the  wonders  of  God,  to  see  how  it  may  dis- 
semble and  play  the  hypocrite.     It  affects  to  be 
friendly  and  chaste,  as  if  it  were  a  virgin  full  of 
modesty;  and  yet  is  a  strumpet  full  of  flaws,  and 
at  heart  hates  all  virtue,  chastity  and  righteous- 
ness.    It  is  a  perpetual  enemy  of  love  and  humility. 
Whatever  is  simple,  that  it  despises ;  and  yet  forces 
the  simple  under  its  yoke.     It  says  to  the  real  true 
man:  Thou  art  my  dog,  I  will  hunt  thee  whither 
I  list.     Thou  art  foolish,  and  I  am  wise;  and  it 
is  itself  the  biggest  fool.     It  forfeits  God  and  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  for  a  little  while's  delight  of  the 
eyes ;  it  plunges  itself  into  darkness,  and  puts  on  the 
coat  of  anxiety. 

13.  The  second  virtue  of  this  King  Falsehood  is 
covetousness.  This  draws  all  to  itself,  and 
darkens  the  shining  adornment  of  pride.     It  draws 


THE  SIXTH  POINT  117 

to  itself  evil  and  good  promiscuously,  and  continu- 
ally fills  pride  full.  And  when  it  has  filled  it,  it 
takes  its  son  envy  and  torments  pride  therewith, 
so  that  it  has  no  rest  in  its  splendour.  Envy 
stings  incessantly  in  the  desiring  covetousness,  as 
if  it  were  mad  and  frantic;  and  tortures  pride 
day  and  night,  so  that  it  never  rests.  Covetous- 
ness is  the  right  coarse  swinish  beast;  it  desires 
more  than  it  can  eat.  Its  jaws  are  wide  open  day 
and  night.  It  suffers  not  man  to  rest,  and  tor- 
ments him  continually  in  its  sordid  filthiness,  so 
that  he  has  an  eager  longing  earthward,  and  toward 
the  things  the  earth  yields  without  any  one's 
covetousness;  only  labour  belongs  thereto,  and  no 
covetousness. 

14.  Covetousness  plagues  itself  and  is  its  own 
enemy ;  for  it  fills  itself  with  pain  and  disquietude, 
and  clouds  man's  understanding,  so  that  he  cannot 
recognize  that  all  comes  from  the  divine  hand.  It 
makes  dark  for  man  his  life's  light,  consumes  the 
body,  and  robs  him  of  the  divine  senses  and  glory. 
It  casts  him  into  the  pit  of  death,  and  brings  him 
temporal  and  eternal  death.  It  attracts  dark 
matter  into  man's  noble  image,  and  makes  of  an 
angel  a  fierce  wrathful  devil.  It  creates  the  turba 
in  body  and  soul,  and  is  the  hon'ible  beast  in 
the  abyss  of  hell,  for  it  is  the  cause  of  suffering 
and  pain;  without  it  no  pain  could  arise.  It  causes 
war  and  strife,  for  it  is  never  satisfied.  If  it  had 
all  the  world,  it  would  want  to  have  also  the  abyss; 
for  there  is  no  place  made  for  its  rest.  It  builds  up 
countries  and  kingdoms,  and  destroys  them  also 


118        SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 

again.     It  drives  man  into  mere  trouble  and  tur- 
moil; it  is  simply  the  devil's  heart  and  will. 

15.  For  pride  is  the  brave  spirit  which  grows 
from  covetousness.  It  is  the  fair  child  that  was  to 
possess  heaven;  but  covetousness  has  transformed 
it  into  a  bastard-child,  and  has  introduced  it 
into  Babel,  into  the  mother  of  the  great  whore- 
dom on  earth.  There  pride  continually  prosti- 
tutes itself  to  covetousness,  and  is  but  a  bastard- 
child  in  the  sight  of  God.  It  cannot  possess 
heaven;  it  has  its  kingdom  of  heaven  on  earth.  It 
makes  court  to  King  Falsehood,  who  takes  all 
its  labour,  and  gives  it  to  the  four  elements  of  the 
devil  in  the  dark  world;  and  thither  must  pride 
follow  also  with  covetousness,  when  the  bag  of 
anxious  avarice  breaks.  The  same  is  indeed  so 
very  just,  and  yet  takes  its  covetousness  with  it 
into  the  abyss,  that  pride  may  have  its  dehght 
therein.  As  a  fool  in  his  fool's  dress,  who  toils 
and  vexes  himself  that  he  may  bring  forth  folly 
and  please  his  spectators,  that  he  may  be  an 
extravagant  fool;  so  in  like  manner  pride  and  cov- 
etousness is  God's  fool  and  the  devil's  juggler,  who 
hath  his  delight  in  this,  that  he  can  make  of  God's 
image  a  fool's  image. 

16.  The  third  virtue  is  envy,  in  the  four  elements 
of  the  devil,  in  the  kingdom  of  falsehood.  The 
same  is  a  sting,  a  rager  and  raver,  like  an  evil 
poison.  It  can  abide  nowhere,  and  has  no  resting- 
place  Its  mother  covetousness  allows  it  no  rest; 
it  nmst  always  rage  and  rave.  It  must  enter  into 
that  in  which  it  is  not  generated.     It  is  the  mouth 


. 


•11 


THE  SIXTH  POINT  119 

of  covetousness,  a  perpetual  liar  and  slanderer.  It 
pierces  into  its  neighbour's  heart,  and  wounds  it. 
It  devours  itself  for  very  poisonful  hunger,  and  yet 
never  has  enough.  It  causes  restlessness  without 
limit  or  measure.  It  is  the  greatest  poison  and  the 
eye  of  hell,  whereby  the  devil  sees  in  the  soul  and 
body  of  man.  Nothing  is  like  unto  it.  It  is  no 
fire,  but  the  sting  of  fire.  It  brings  about  all  ill, 
and  yet  finds  no  rest;  the  more  it  pushes  on,  the 
more  frantic  it  is.  It  is  a  famished  poison.  It 
needs  no  being,  and  yet  rages  in  being.  It  makes 
man  more  than  mad,  so  that  he  desires  to  storm 
and  rave  against  God.  It  is  the  essence  of  hell 
and  of  wrath,  and  makes  of  love  the  gi^eatest  enmity. 
It  grudges  any  one  anything,  and  yet  is  itself  a 
starved  nothing. 

17.  Envy  is  the  devil's  will-spirit;  and  the  man 
who  takes  it  as  a  lodging,  receives  the  devil  and 
God's  wrath;  for  it  brings  heUish  torture  and  pain. 
It  is  the  eternal  hostile  torment  and  unrest,  and 
destroys  the  noble  image  of  God ;  for  it  is  the  enemy 
of  God  and  of  all  creatures. 

18.  The  fourth  virtue,  in  the  four  elements  in 
the  kingdom  of  falsehood  of  the  devil,  is  anger, 
rage.  This  is  the  right  hell-fire;  for  anger  is 
generated  between  covetousness  and  envy.  It  is 
the  fire  and  life  of  envy.  What  envy  cannot  do, 
that  anger  accomplishes.  Anger  takes  body  and 
soul  together,  and  runs  like  a  raging  devil.  It 
would  destroy  and  shatter  everything;  it  runs 
against  walls  and  strongholds.  And  though  it 
burst  itself,  still  it  is  furious,  like  a  mad  dog  that 


120        SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 

bites  and  kills  all;  and  is  so  venomous  in  its  wrath, 
that,  what  it  cannot  overpower,  it  nevertheless 
poisons.  This  is  the  true  podagra  of  the  world. 
When  pride  in  its  hypocritical  coat  cannot  get  the 
mastery  by  guile  and  falsehood,  it  must  then  give 
effect  to  the  fourth  virtue,  which  strikes  with  the 
fist  and  brings  about  war.  Oh,  how  merry  is  the 
devil  when  his  four  elements  rule  thus!  He  still 
thinks  he  is  lord  on  earth.  For  though  he  is  a  pris- 
oner, yet  the  animal-men  perform  his  office  wtII; 
and  accordingly  he  holds  men  in  derision,  that  they 
are  and  do  worse  than  he  himself  can  do. 

19.  These  are,  then,  the  four  elements  of  the 
dark  world,  in  which  the  devil  opines  to  be  a  God; 
and  therewith  he  rules  on  earth  by  his  faithful  son 
Falsehood.  This  latter  is  the  smug  kitling,  who 
before  gives  good  words,  and  yet  always  has  the 
mouse  in  view.  Can  it  but  catch  it:  Oh,  how  brisk 
and  jocund  it  is  when  it  can  bring  the  roast  meat 
to  the  devil!  With  these  four  elements  man  is 
surrounded,  and  lodges  in  the  country  of  the  false 
king.  They  shoot  him  at  all  hours  to  the  heart, 
and  would  destroy  his  noble  image.  He  must 
always  be  at  war  against  them,  for  they  lodge  with 
him  and  in  him;  they  make  thrusts  continually  at 
him,  and  would  destroy  his  choicest  jewel. 

20.  If  but  one  of  these  four  elements  obtain  in 
man  power  to  qualify,  this  one  enkindles  all  the 
others;  and  they  straightaway  rob  him  of  his  noble 
image,  and  make  of  him  a  mask  of  the  devil.  And 
no  man  who  allows  to  these  four  elements  power 
to  quahfy  can  with  truth  say  of  himself,  that  he 


THE  SIXTH  POINT  121 

is  a  man;  for  he  quahfies  into  the  devil's  property, 
and  is  an  enemy  of  God.  And  though  the  devil 
clothe  him  with  the  hypocritical  coat,  so  that  he 
is  able  to  give  good  words  and  knows  how  to  be 
elegant  in  his  manners,  that  men  think  he  is  a  child 
of  God,  yet  he  is  not  a  man  as  long  as  these  four 
elements  have  the  upper-hand  in  him;  but  he  is  a 
diabolized  man,  half  devil  and  half  man,  till  he 
make  his  measure  full:  then  he  is  an  entire  devil  in 

human  shape. 

21.  Let  every  one,  therefore,  learn  to  know  him- 
self,—what  kind  of  properties  rule  in  him.  If  he 
find  that  all  these  four  elements,  or  one  only,  rule 
in  him,  he  has  to  take  the  field  against  them,  or 
it  will  turn  out  ill  in  the  end.  He  will  not  be 
permitted  to  comfort  himself  with  the  kingdom  of 
heaven.  Only  let  him  not  suffer  the  devil  to  wrap 
him  round  with  the  hypocritical  cloak,  as  happens 
when  men  live  in  these  four  elements,  and  subtly 
flatter  themselves  with  the  sufferings  of  Christ. 
That  must  be  the  covering  of  this  impostor.  The 
impostor  might  retain  his  dominion,  if  he  did  not 
tickle  himself  with  Christ's  satisfaction. 

22.  Oh,  how  the  shining  coat  of  Christ  will  be 
stript  off  thee!  Then  will  be  seen  standing  in 
Babel  the  whore  with  the  four  virtues.  It  is  not 
merely  a  question  of  taking  comfort,  but  of  keep- 
ing down  the  impostor,  lest  he  become  master  in 
the  house.  He  must  not  bear  rule,  but  righteous- 
ness, love,  humility  and  chastity,  and  constant 
cheerful  well-doing.  Not  dissembling  and  giving 
good  words,  but  doing.     There  must  be  doing:  viz. 


V 


/ 


122        SIX  THEOSOPHIC  POINTS 

striving  against  the  devil's  will,  contenting  oneself 
with  little,  in  patience  shutting  oneself  up  in  hope 
in  God,  resisting  the  four  evil  elements  and  taking 
in  God's  four  elements,  which  are  love,  meekness, 
mercy,  and  patience  in  hope.  These  should  man 
awaken  in  himself,  and  therewith  continually  fight 
against  the  devil's  four  elements. 

23.  Man  must  here  be  at  war  against  himself,  if 
he  wishes  to  become  a  heavenly  citizen.  He  must 
not  be  a  lazy  sleeper,  and  with  gormandizing  and 
swilling  fill  his  belly,  whereby  the  devil's  elements 
begin  to  qualify;  but  he  must  be  temperate,  sober 
and  vigilant,  as  a  soldier  that  stands  before  his 
enemy.  For  God's  wrath  fights  continuallv  ao-ainst 
him;  he  will  have  enough  to  do  to  defend 
himself. 

24.  For  the  devil  is  his  enemy,  his  own  corrupt 
flesh  and  blood  is  his  enemy,  God's  wrath  is  his 
enemy  within  him,  and  the  whole  world  is  his 
enemy.  Wherever  he  looks  he  sees  enemies,  who 
all  desire  to  rob  him. 

25.  Therefore  fighting  must  be  the  watchword, 
not  with  tongue  and  sword,  but  with  mind  and 
spirit;  and  not  give  over.  Though  body  and  soul 
should  break,  yet  God  must  remain  the  strength  of 
the  heart,  as  David  says  (Psal.  Ixxiii.  26).  And 
though  a  man  should  see  that  the  whole  world  were 
godless,  if  he  purpose  becoming  a  child  of  God,  he 
must  nevertheless  continue  steadfast. 

26.  And  though  it  should  seem  to  him  that  he 
were  alone  in  this  path,  and  the  whole  world  should 
say:  Thou  art  a  fool,  and  art  mad!  yet  he  should 


THE  SIXTH  POINT  123 

be  as  if  he  were  dead  in  the  world,  and  heard  that 
from  the  mouth  of  the  devil,  who  is  his  worst 
enemy.  He  should  nowhere  give  ground ;  but  think 
that  in  his  purpose  he  pleases  God,  and  that  God 
himself  in  him  is  his  purpose;  that  he  would  thus 
deliver  him  from  the  devil,  and  bring  him  into  his 
kingdom.     Amen. 


I 


/ 


SEX  PUNCTA  MYSTICA 


OR 


A  SHORT  EXPLANATION  OF 


SIX  MYSTICAL  POINTS 


BY 


JACOB   BOHME 


Written  in  the  year  1620 


I 

V 


PREFACE 

The  precious  knowledge  is  not  found  unless  the 
soul  have  once  conquered  in  the  assault  and  struck 
down  the  devil,  so  that  it  obtains  the  knight's 
garland,  which  the  gracious  virgin  Chastity  puts 
upon  it  as  a  token  of  victory  that  it  has  overcome 
in  its  dear  champion  Christ.  Then  the  wonderful 
knowledge  rises,  but  with  no  perfection. 


127 


THE  FIRST  POINT 

On  the  blood  and  water  of  the  soul. 


1.  All  that  is  substantial  and  tangible  is  in  this 
world.  Now,  since  the  soul  is  not  a  substance  or 
entity  in  this  world,  neither  is  its  blood  and  water 
a  substance  or  entity  in  this  world. 

2.  Certainly  the  soul  with  its  blood  and  water  is 
in  the  outer  blood  and  water;  but  its  substance  is 
magical.  For  the  soul  is  also  a  magical  fire,  and 
its  image  or  form  is  generated  in  the  light  (in  the 
power  of  its  own  fire  and  light)  from  the  magical 
fire ;  and  yet  is  a  veritable  image  in  flesh  and  blood, 
but  in  the  original  state  thereof. 

3.  As  God's  wisdom  has  being,  and  yet  it,  wis- 
dom, is  not  a  being;  so  the  soul  with  its  image  has 
being,  and  yet  it,  the  soul,  is  only  a  magical  fire,  but 
its  sustenance  is  from  its  substance. 

4.  As  a  fire  must  have  substance  if  it  is  to  burn, 
so  likewise  the  magical  fire  of  the  soul  has  flesh, 
blood  and  water.  There  would  be  no  blood  if  the 
tincture  of  fire  and  light  were  not  in  water.  This 
tincture  is  the  ens  or  life  of  wisdom  (which  has  in 
it  all  the  forms  of  6f  Nature),  and  is  the  other 
magical  fire. 

5.  For  it  gives  all  colours;  and  from  its  form 
goes  forth  divine  power  in  the  gentle  nature  of  the 
light  (understand,  according  to  the  property  of  the 

129 


130  SIX  MYSTICAL  POINTS 

light  in  it)  ;  and  according  to  the  property  of  the 
fire  in  it,  it  is  a  sharpness  of  transmutation.  It  can 
bring  eveiy thing  to  its  highest  degree ;  although  it 
is  not  a  live  spirit,  but  the  supreme  ens. 

6.  Hence  also  the  tincture  is  such  an  ens  in  water, 
and  introduces  thereinto  the  property  of  fire  and 
of  light,  with  all  the  powers  of  Nature;  whereby 
it  transforms  the  water  into  blood ;  and  this  it  does 
in  the  outer  and  inner  water,  as  in  the  outer  and 
inner  blood. 

7.  The  inner  blood  of  the  divine  substantiality  is 
also  magical;  for  it  is  Magic  which  makes  it  into 
substance.  It  is  spiritual  blood,  which  outer  nature 
cannot  touch  {rilgen),  but  by  imagination  only. 
The  inner  imagination  introduces  the  outer  will  into 
the  inner  blood,  whereby  the  flesh  and  blood  of  the 
divine  substantiality  is  corrupted,  and  the  noble 
image  of  the  likeness  of  God  is  eclipsed. 

8.  The  soul's  flesh  and  blood  is  in  the  highest 
mystery,  for  it  is  divine  substantiality.  And  when 
the  outer  flesh  and  blood  die,  it  falls  unto  the  outer 
mystery,   and  the   outer   mystery   falls   unto   the 

inner. 

9.  And  every  magical  fire  has  its  brightness  and 
darkness  in  itself ;  on  account  of  which  a  final  day 
of  separation  is  appointed,  when  all  must  pass 
through  a  fire  and  be  proved,  what  shall  be  fit  for 
it  or  not.  Then  everything  goes  into  its  own  magic, 
and  thereafter  is  as  it  was  from  eternity. 


THE  SECOND  POINT 

On  the  election  of  grace.     On  good  and  evil. 

1.  God  is  from  eternity  alone  all.  His  essence 
divides  itself  into  three  eternal  distinctions.  One 
is  the  fire-world,  the  second  the  dark  world,  and 
the  third  the  light-world.  And  yet  they  are  but 
one  essence,  one  in  another;  but  one  is  not  the 
other. 

2.  The  three  distinctions  are  alike  eternal  and 
without  bounds,  and  confined  in  no  time  nor  place. 
Each  distinction  shuts  itself  in  itself  in  a  being; 
and  its  qualification  is  in  accordance  with  its  prop- 
erty, and  in  its  qualification  is  also  its  desire,  as 
the  centrum  naturae. 

3.  And  the  desire  is  its  making,  for  desire  makes 
being  where  there  is  none,  and  that  in  the  essence 
of  the  desire,  according  to  the  property  of  the 
desire.  And  all  is  together  only  a  Magia,  or  a 
hunger  after  being. 

4.  Each  form  makes  being  in  its  desire;  and  each 
form  fulfils  itself  out  of  the  mirror  of  its  bright- 
ness, and  has  its  seeing  in  its  own  mirror.  Its 
seeing  is  a  darkness  for  another  mirror,  its  form 
is  hidden  to  another  eye;  but  in  feehng  there  is  a 
difference. 

5.  For  each  form  derives  its  feeling  from  the 
original  state  of  the  first  three  forms  in  Nature,  viz. 

131 


132  SIX  MYSTICAL  POINTS 

from  sour,  bitter  and  anguish ;  and  yet  in  these  three 
there  is  no  pain  in  themselves,  but  fire  causes  pain 
in  them,  and  light  transforms  it  into  gentleness 
again. 

6.  The  right  life  is  rooted  in  fire;  there  is  the 
hinge  of  light  and  darkness.  The  hinge  is  desire; 
with  whatever  it  fill  itself,  to  the  fire  thereof  the 
desire  belongs,  and  its  light  shines  from  that  fire. 
That  hght  is  the  form  or  seeing  of  that  hfe;  and 
the  substance  introduced  in  the  desire  is  the  fire's 
wood,  from  which  the  fire  burns,  be  it  harsh  or 
soft;  and  that  also  is  its  kingdom  of  heaven  or 
of  hell. 

7.  Human  life  is  the  hinge  between  light  and 
darkness;  to  whichever  it  give  itself  up,  in  that 
same  does  it  burn.  If  it  give  itself  to  the  desire 
of  essence,  it  burns  in  anguish,  in  the  fire  of 
darkness. 

8.  But  if  it  give  itself  to  a  nothing,  then  it  is 
desireless,  and  falls  unto  the  fire  of  light,  and  then 
it  cannot  burn  in  any  pain;  for  it  brings  into  its 
fire  no  substance  from  which  a  fire  could  burn. 
Seeing  then  there  is  no  pain  in  it,  neither  can  the 
life  receive  any  pain,  for  there  is  none  in  it;  it 
has  fallen  unto  the  first  Magia,  which  is  God  in 
his  triad. 

9.  When  the  life  is  born,  it  has  all  the  three  worlds 
in  it.  The  world  to  which  it  unites  itself,  by  that 
it  is  held,  and  in  that  fire  enkindled. 

10.  For  when  the  hfe  enkindles  itself,  it  is 
attracted  by  all  the  three  worlds;  and  they  are  in 
motion  in  the  essence,  as  in  the  first  enkindled  fire. 


THE  SECOND  POINT  133 

Whatever  essence  the  life  in  its  desire  takes  in  and 
receives,  its  fire  burns. 

11.  If  the  first  essence  in  which  the  life  enkindles 
itself  be  good,  then  is  also  the  fire  pleasant  and 
good.  But  if  it  be  evil  and  dark,  consisting  of  a 
fierce  wrathful  property,  then  is  the  fire  also  a 
wrath-fire,  and  has  a  con-esponding  desire  conform- 
ing to  the  property  of  the  fire. 

12.  For  every  imagination  desires  only  essence 
like  unto  itself,  wherein  it  originally  arose. 

13.  The  Hfe  of  man  in  this  time  is  like  a  wheel, 
where  the  undermost  is  soon  uppermost.  It  en- 
kindles itself  at  every  essence,  and  soils  itself  with 
every  essence.  But  its  bath  is  the  movement  of  the 
heart  of  God,  a  water  of  gentleness ;  and  therefrom 
it  is  able  to  introduce  substantialitv  into  its  fire-life. 
The  election  of  God  depends  not  on  the  first 
essence. 

14.  For  the  first  essence  is  only  the  mysterium 
for  a  life;  and  the  first  life  with  the  enkindling 
belongs  properly  to  its  mysterium  out  of  which  it 
proceeded,  be  it  wholly  fierce  essence,  or  a  mixed 
essence,  or  an  essence  of  light  according  to  the 
light-world. 

15.  The  property  from  which  the  life  first  takes 
its  rise,  from  that  also  burns  the  light  of  its  life. 
This  life  has  no  election,  and  no  judgment  is  passed 
upon  it ;  for  it  stands  in  its  own  primitive  condition, 
and  carries  its  judgment  in  itself.  It  separates 
itself  from  all  other  source  {Qual)  ;  for  it  burns 
only  in  its  own  source,  in  its  own  magical  fire. 

16.  Election  is  in  respect  of  that  which  is  intro- 


t 


134  SIX  MYSTICAL  POINTS 

duced,  whether  it  belong  to  the  light  or  to  the 
darkness.  For  according  as  it  belongs  to  the  one 
property  or  to  the  other,  so  also  is  its  life's  will. 
And  here  it  becomes  known  whether  it  is  of  the 
fierce  wrathful  essence,  or  of  the  love-essence.  So 
long  as  it  burns  in  one  fire,  it  is  forsaken  of  the 
o+her ;  and  the  election  of  that  fire  wherein  it  burns 
passes  upon  the  life;  for  it  would  have  it,  it  is  of 
its  property. 

17.  But  if  that  fire's  will  (as  the  flying  punc- 
turn)  plunge  into  another  fire  and  enkindle  itself 
therein,  then  it  may  enkindle  the  whole  life  with 
that  fire,  if  it  remain  in  that  fire. 

18.  Then  is  the  hfe  new-born,  either  unto  the 
dark  world  or  unto  the  world  of  hght  (in  which- 
ever the  will  has  enkindled  itself),  and  upon  it 
comes  another  election.  And  that  is  the  reason  why 
God  suffers  people  to  teach,  and  so  does  the  devil. 
Each  wishes  the  fife's  will  to  plunge  into  his  fire, 
and  enkindle  itself.  And  then  one  mysterium 
seizes  the  other. 


1 

I 


THE  THIRD  POINT 

On  sin.     What  is  sin,  and  how  it  is  sin.^ 

1.  A  thing  that  is  one  has  neither  commandment 
nor  law.  But  if  it  mix  with  another,  then  there 
are  two  beings  in  one,  and  also  two  wills,  one 
running  counter  to  the  other.  There  is  the  origin 
of  enmity. 

2.  Thus  we  are  to  consider  of  enmity  against 
God.  God  is  one  and  good,  without  any  pain  or 
limiting  characteristic  (Qual)  ;  and  though  all 
source  or  quality  (Qual)  be  in  him,  yet  it  is  not 
manifest.  For  the  good  has  swallowed  up  the  evil 
or  contrary  into  itself,  and  keeps  it  in  restraint  in 
the  good,  as  it  were  a  prisoner;  for  the  evil  must 
be  a  cause  of  life  and  of  light,  but  immanifest. 
But  the  good  dies  to  the  evil,  that  it  may  dwell  in 
the  evil,  without  pain  or  feeling,  in  itself. 

3.  Love  and  enmity  are  only  one  thing;  but  each 
dwells  in  itself,  and  that  makes  two  things.  Death 
is  the  bound  of  separation  between  them;  and  yet 
there  is  no  death,  save  that  the  good  dies  to  the  evil, 
as  the  light  is  dead  to  the  pain  of  fire,  and  no 
longer  feels  the  fire. 

4.  Thus  then  must  we  explain  sin  in  human  life. 
For  life  is  one  and  good;  but  if  there  be  another 
quality  therein,  then  it  (life)  is  an  enmity  against 

1  i.e.  What  things  are  sins,  and  what  makes  them  sins. 

135 


136  SIX  MYSTICAL  POINTS 

God;    for    God    dwells    in    the    highest    life    of 
man. 

5.  Now,  no  unfathomable  existence  can  dwell  in 
one  that  is  fathomable.  For,  as  soon  as  the  right 
life  awakens  pain  in  itself,  it  is  not  identical  with  the 
nnground,  in  which  there  is  no  pain;  hence  imme- 
diately one  separates  from  the  other. 

6.  For  the  good  or  the  light  is  as  nothing;  but 
if  something  come  into  it,  then  this  something  is 
another  than  the  nothing.  For  the  something 
dwells  in  itself  in  torment  (Qual)  ;  for  where  there 
is  something,  there  must  be  a  quality  (Qual)  which 
makes  and  keeps  the  something. 

7.  And  thus  we  are  to  consider  of  love  and 
enmity.  Love  has  but  one  quality  and  one  vrill,  it 
desires  only  its  like,  and  not  many.  For  the  good 
is  only  one,  but  quality  is  many;  and  the  human 
will  that  desires  many,  brings  into  itself,  into  the 
One  (wherein  God  dwells) ,  the  torment  of  plurality. 

8.  For  the  something  is  dark,  and  darkens  the 
life's  light;  and  the  One  is  Light,  for  it  loves  itself 
and  is  no  desire  after  several. 

9.  The  life's  will  must  therefore  be  directed 
towards  the  One  (as  towards  the  good),  and  thus 
it  remains  in  one  quahty.  But  if  it  imaginate  into 
another  quality,  it  makes  itself  pregnant  with  the 
thing  after  which  it  longs. 

10.  And  if  this  thing  be  without  an  eternal  foun- 
dation, in  a  frail  perishable  root,  then  it  seeks  a  root 
for  its  preservation,  that  it  may  remain.  For  every 
life  stands  in  magical  fire ;  and  every  fire  must  have 
substance  in  which  it  burns. 


THE  THIRD  POINT  187 

11.  This  same  thing  must  make  for  itself  sub- 
stance according  to  its  desire,  that  its  fire  may 
have  food  to  feed  upon.  Now,  no  fire-source  can 
subsist  in  the  free  fire;  for  it  attains  not  that, 
inasmuch  as  it  is  only  a  self -thing. 

12.  All  that  is  to  subsist  in  God  must  be  freed 
from  its  own  will.  It  must  have  no  individual 
fire  burning  in  it;  but  God's  fire  must  be  its  fire. 
Its  will  must  be  united  to  God,  that  God  and  the 
will  and  spirit  of  man  may  be  but  one. 

13.  For  that  which  is  one  is  not  at  enmity  with 
itself,  for  it  has  only  one  will.  Wherever  it  goes, 
or  whatever  it  does,  that  is  all  one  with  it. 

14.  One  will  has  only  one  imagination;  and  the 
imagination  makes  or  desires  only  that  which  assim- 
ilates with  it.  And  so  in  like  manner  we  are  to 
understand  concerning  the  contrary  will. 

15.  God  dwells  in  all  things;  and  nothing  com- 
prehends him,  unless  it  be  one  with  him.  But  if 
it  go  out  from  the  One,  it  goes  out  of  God  into 
itself,  and  is  another  than  God,  which  separates 
itself.  And  here  it  is  that  law  arises,  that  it  should 
proceed  again  out  of  itself  into  the  One,  or  else 
remain  separated  from  the  One. 

16.  And  thus  it  may  be  known  what  is  sin,  or 
how  it  is  sin.  Namely,  when  the  human  will  sep- 
arates itself  from  God  into  an  existence  of  its  own, 
and  awakens  its  own  self,  and  burns  in  its  own  fire, 
which  is  not  capable  of  the  divine  fire. 

17.  For  all  into  which  the  will  enters,  and  will 
have  as  its  own,  is  something  foreign  in  the  one  will 
of  God.    For  all  is  God's,  and  to  man's  own  will 


138  SIX  MYSTICAL  POINTS 

belongs  nothing.     But  if  it  be  in  God,  then  all 
is  its  also. 

18.  Thus  we  recognize  that  desire  is  sin.  For  it 
is  a  lusting  out  of  one  into  many,  and  introduces 
many  into  one.  It  will  possess,  and  yet  should  be 
will-less.  By  desire  substance  is  sought,  and  in 
substance  desire  kindles  fire. 

19.  Now  each  particular  fire  burns  in  accordance 
with  the  character  of  its  own  being;  and  here  sep- 
aration and  enmity  are  born.  For  Christ  says :  He 
that  is  not  with  me  is  against  me;  and  he  that 
gathereth  not  with  me  scattereth  (Luke  xi.  23). 
For  he  gathereth  without  Christ ;  and  whatsoever  is 
not  in  Him  is  out  of  God. 

20.  We  see,  then,  that  covetousness  is  sin;  for 
it  is  a  desire  out  of  God.  And  we  see  also  that 
pride  is  sin,  for  it  will  be  a  thing  of  its  own;  and 
separates  itself  from  God,  as  from  the  One. 

21.  For  whatever  will  be  in  God  must  walk  in 
him,  in  his  will.  Seeing  then  we  are  in  God  but 
one  in  many  members,  it  is  against  God  when  one 
member  withdraws  itself  from  the  other,  and  makes 
a  lord  of  itself,  as  pride  does.  Pride  will  be  lord, 
and  God  alone  is  lord.  Thus  there  are  two  lords, 
and  one  separates  from  the  other. 

22.  All,  therefore,  is  sin  and  a  contrary  will,  that 
desire  possesses  as  its  own,  be  it  meat  or  drink. 
If  the  will  imaginate  thereinto,  it  fills  itself  there- 
with and  kindles  the  fire  thereof,  and  then  another 
fire  burns  in  the  first,  and  there  is  contrary  will 

and  error. 

23.  Therefore   out   of  the   contrary   will   must 


THE  THIRD  POINT  139 

grow  a  new  will,  which  gives  itself  up  again  to  the 
one  Unity;  and  the  contrary  will  must  be  broken 
and  slain. 

24.  And  here  we  are  to  consider  the  Word  of 
God  that  became  man.  If  man  place  his  desire 
therein,  he  goes  out  from  pain  (Qual) ,  from  his 
own  fire,  and  is  new-born  in  the  Word.  And  thus 
the  out-going  will  dwells  in  God ;  and  the  first  will 
in  greed,  earthliness  and  plurality. 

25.  Accordingly  plurality  with  the  body  must 
break,  and  it  (plurality)  must  perish  and  fall  away 
from  the  out-going  will,  and  then  the  out-going 
will  is  recognized  as  a  new  birth.  For  in  the  One 
it  takes  all  again  into  itself;  but  not  with  its  own 
desire,  but  with  ^  its  own  love — a  love  that  is  united 
with  God,  that  God  may  be  all  in  all,  and  his  will 
the  will  of  all  things;  for  in  God  exists  but  a  single 
will. 

26.  Thus  we  find  that  evil  must  be  subservient 
unto  the  life  of  the  good,  provided  the  will  again 
goes  out  from  the  evil,  from  itself,  into  the  good; 
for  fierceness  must  constitute  life's  fire. 

27.  But  the  life's  will  must  be  turned  against 
itself  in  conflict;  for  it  must  flee  from  fierceness, 
and  not  will  it.  It  must  not  will  desire,  and  yet  its 
fire  {i.e.  life's  fire)  wills  desire,  and  must  have  desire. 
Therefore  the  thing  is,  to  be  born  anew  in  will. 

1  Mr.  H.  H.  Joachim  writes:  *Bohme's  point  here  is  very  deep: 
the  Individuars  will  when  united  with  God  does  not  lose  its  individu- 
ality'. It  takes  all  into  itself  with  a  love  peculiar  to  itself — but  since 
it  is  love,  and  not  desire,  it  (the  love)  can  be  the  wiU's  very  own,  pe- 
culiar to  it,  and  yet  not  separate  it  from  other  individuals  or  from 
God.' 


140  SIX  MYSTICAL  POINTS 

28.  Every  will-spirit  that  remains  in  the  desire 
of  its  life's  fire  (as  in  the  ferventness  of  the  wood 
for  fire),  or  enters  thereinto  and  possesses  the 
earthly,  is  separated  from  God  as  long  as  it  possesses 
what  is  foreign,  viz.  the  earthly. 

29.  Thus,  we  recognize  how  superfluity  of  meat 
and  drink  produces  sin.  For  the  pure  will,  which 
goes  out  from  hfe's  fire,  is  drowned  in  desire  and 
imprisoned,  so  that  it  proves  too  powerless  in 
combat.  For  the  source  of  fire  (or  of  desire) 
holds  it  captive  and  fills  it  with  craving,  so  that 
this  same  will  carries  its  imagination  into  the 
desire. 

30.  Accordingly  the  will  in  the  desire  for  meat 
and  drink  is  earthly,  and  is  separated  from  God. 
But  the  will  that  escapes  from  the  earthly  fire,  bums 
in  the  inward  fire,  and  is  divine. 

31.  This  will  that  flees  from  the  earthly  desire 
arises  not  from  the  earthly  fire.  No;  it  is  the  will 
of  the  soul's  fire,  which  is  caught  and  concealed  by 
the  earthly  desire.  It  wills  not  to  remain  in  the 
earthly  desire,  but  will  enter  into  its  One,  into  God, 
out  of  which  it  originally  sprang. 

32.  But  if  it  be  kept  a  prisoner  in  the  earthly 
desire,  then  it  is  shut  up  in  death,  and  suffers  agony. 
And  thus  is  sin  to  be  understood. 


THE  FOURTH  POINT 

How  CHRIST  WILL  DELI\^R  UP  THE  KINGDOM 

TO   HIS  FATHER. 

1.  At  the  creation  of  the  world  and  of  all  being, 
the  Father  put  himself  in  motion  in  accordance 
with  his  property,  viz.  by  the  centre  of  Nature, 
by  the  dark  world  and  the  fire-world.  These 
continued  in  motion  and  domination  till  the  Father 
moved  himself  in  accordance  with  his  heart  (and 
the  hght-world),  and  God  became  man.  Then 
the  love  of  the  hght  overcame  the  Father's  fierce 
wrathful  property,  and  the  Father  ruled  in  the  Son 
with  love. 

2.  Then  the  Son  had  dominion  in  those  that  did 
cleave  unto  God;  and  the  Holy  Spirit  (that  pro- 
ceeds from  the  Father  and  Son)  drew  men  in  the 
light  of  love,  through  the  Son,  to  God  the  Father. 

3.  But  in  the  end  the  Holy  Spirit  moves  in  the 
Father's  and  also  in  the  Son's  property,  and  both 
properties  become  active  at  once.  The  spirit  of 
the  Father  reveals  itself  in  fire  and  light,  as  also 
in  the  wrath  of  the  dark  world.  Then  the  king- 
dom falls  unto  the  Father.  For  the  Holy  Spirit 
must  govern  eternally,  and  be  an  eternal  revealer 
in  the  light-world  and  also  in  the  dark  world. 

4.  For  the  two  worlds  will  stand  still;  and  the 
Holy  Spirit  who  proceeds  from  the  Father  and 

141 


142  SIX  MYSTICAL  POINTS 

Son,  bears  rule  eternally  in  the  two  worlds,  accord- 
ing to  each  world's  nature  and  property. 

5.  He  alone  will  be  the  revealer  of  the  wonders. 
And  thus  to  the  Father  (who  is  all)  the  eternal 
dominion,  which  he  exercises  with  the  Spirit,  is 
delivered  by  the  Son. 


I 
1 


THE  FIFTH  POINT 

On  magic.     What  magic  is.     What  the 
magical  ground  is. 

1.  Magic  is  the  mother  of  eternity,  of  the  being 
of  all  beings;  for  it  creates  itself,  and  is  under- 
stood in  desire. 

2.  It  is  in  itself  nothing  but  a  will,  and  this  will 
is  the  great  mystery  of  all  wonders  and  secrets,  but 
brings  itself  by  the  imagination  of  the  desireful 
hunger  into  being. 

3.  It  is  the  original  state  of  Nature.  Its  desire 
makes  an  imagination  {Embildung),  and  imagina- 
tion or  figuration  is  only  the  will  of  desire.  But 
desire  makes  in  the  will  such  a  being  as  the  will  in 
itself  is. 

4.  True  Magic  is  not  a  being,  but  the  desiring 
spirit  of  the  being.  It  is  a  matrix  without  sub- 
stance, but  manifests  itself  in  the  substantial  being. 

5.  JIagic  is  spirit,  and  being  is  its  body;  and  yet 
the  two  are  but  one,  as  body  and  soul  is  but  one 
person. 

6.  Magic  is  the  greatest  secrecy,  for  it  is  above 
Nature,  and  makes  Nature  after  the  form  of  its 
will.  It  is  the  mystery  of  the  Ternary,  viz.  it  is 
in  desire  the  will  striving  towards  the  heart  of  God. 

7.  It  is  the  formative  power  in  the  eternal  wis- 
dom, as  a  desire  in  the  Ternary,  in  which  the  eternal 

143 


144  SIX  MYSTICAL  POINTS 

wonder  of  the  Ternary  desires  to  manifest  itself  in 
co-operation  with  Nature.  It  is  the  desire  which 
introduces  itself  into  the  dark  Nature,  and  through 
Nature  into  fire,  and  through  fire,  through  death  or 
fierceness  into  the  Ught  of  Majesty. 

8.  It  is  not  Majesty,  but  the  desire  in  Majesty. 
It  is  the  desire  of  the  divine  power,  not  the  power 
itself,  but  the  hunger  or  craving  in  the  power.  It  is 
not  God's  Almightiness,  but  the  directrix  in  God's 
power  and  might.  The  heart  of  God  is  the  power, 
and  the  Holy  Spirit  is  the  revelation  of  power. 

9.  It  is,  however,  the  desire  not  only  in  the  power, 
but  also  in  the  conducting  spirit ;  for  it  has  in  it  the 
Fiat.  What  the  Will-spirit  reveals  in  it,  that  it 
brings  into  a  being  by  the  sourness  which  is  the 
Fiat ;  all  according  to  the  model  of  the  will.  Ac- 
cording as  the  will  makes  a  model  in  wisdom,  so 
does  desiring  Magic  receive  it;  for  it  has  in  its 
property  imagination  as  a  longing. 

10.  Imagination  is  gentle  and  soft,  and  resembles 
water.  But  Desire  is  harsh  and  dry,  like  a  hunger; 
it  makes  the  soft  hard,  and  is  found  in  all  things, 
for  it  is  the  greatest  thing  ( Wesen)  in  the  Deity. 
It  leads  the  bottomless  to  foundation,  and  the  noth- 
ing into  something. 

11.  In  Magic  are  all  forms  of  Being  of  all  beings. 
It  is  a  mother  in  all  three  worlds,  and  makes  each 
thing  after  the  model  of  that  thing's  will.  It  is 
not  the  understanding,  but  it  is  a  creatrix  accord- 
ing to  the  understanding,  and  lends  itself  to  good 

or  to  evil. 

12.  All  that  the  will  models  in  wisdom,  if  the 


i«a»i-*»««ito»rf«ii*»*««w*«^^ 


1 


THE  FIFTH  POINT  145 

will  of  the  understanding  also  enter  thereinto,  that 
does  Magic  make  into  a  being.  It  serves  those 
that  love  God  in  God's  Being;  for  it  makes  in  the 
understanding  divine  substance,  and  takes  this 
from  imagination,  as  from  the  gentleness  of  the 
light. 

13.  It  is  Magic  that  makes  divine  flesh;  and  the 
understanding  is  born  of  wisdom,  for  it  is  a  dis- 
scerner  of  colours,  powers  and  virtues.  The  under- 
standing guides  the  right  true  spirit  with  a  bridle; 
for  the  spirit  is  soaring,  and  the  understanding  is  its 
fire. 

14.  The  spirit  is  not  dissentient,  that  it  should  dis- 
sent from  the  understanding;  but  it  is  the  will  of 
the  understanding.  But  the  senses  in  the  under- 
standing are  fiying-out  and  dissentient. 

15.  For  the  senses  are  the  flash  from  the  fire- 
spirit,  and  bring  with  them  in  the  light  the  flames  of 
Majesty;  and  in  the  darkness  they  bring  with  them 
the  flash  of  terror,  as  a  fierce  flash  of  fire. 

16.  The  senses  are  such  a  subtle  spirit  that  they 
enter  into  all  beings,  and  take  up  all  beings  into 
themselves.  But  the  understanding  tries  all  in  its 
own  fire;  it  rejects  the  evil  and  retains  the  good. 
Then  Magic,  its  mother,  takes  this  and  brings  it 

into  a  being. 

17.  Magic  is  the  mother  from  which  Nature 
comes,  and  the  understanding  is  the  mother  coming 
from  Nature.  Magic  leads  into  a  fierce  fire,  and 
the  understanding  leads  its  own  mother.  Magic, 
out  of  the  fierce  fire  into  its  own  fire. 

18.  For  the  understanding  is  the  fire  of  power. 


146  SIX  MYSTICAL  POINTS 

and  Magic  the  burning  fire;  and  yet  it  is  not  to  be 
understood  as  fire,  but  the  power  or  mother  to  fire. 
Fire  is  called  the  principle,  and  Magic  is  called 

desire. 

19.  By  Magic  is  everything  accomplished,  both 
good  and  bad.  Its  own  working  is  Nigromantia, 
but  it  is  distributed  into  all  the  properties.  In  that 
which  is  good  it  is  good,  and  in  that  which  is  evil  it 
is  evil.  It  is  of  use  to  the  children  for  God's  king- 
dom, and  to  the  sorcerers  for  the  devil's  kingdom; 
for  the  understanding  can  make  of  it  what  it 
pleases.  It  is  without  understanding,  and  yet  com- 
prehends all;  for  it  is  the  comprehension  of  all 

things. 

20.  It  is  impossible  to  express  its  depth,  for  it  is 
from  eternity  a  ground  and  support  of  all  things. 
It  is  a  master  of  philosophy,  and  likewise  a  mother 

thereof. 

21.  But  philosophy  leads  Magic,  its  mother,  as 
it  pleases.  As  the  divine  power,  viz.  the  Word  (or 
heart  of  God),  leads  the  severe  Father  into  gentle- 
ness; so  also  does  philosophy  (or  the  understand- 
ing) lead  its  mother  into  a  gentle  divine  quahty. 

22.  Magic  is  the  book  of  all  scholars.  All  that 
will  learn  must  first  learn  Magic,  be  it  a  high  or  a 
lowly  art.  Even  the  peasant  in  the  field  must  go 
to  the  magical  school,  if  he  would  cultivate  his  field. 

23.  Magic  is  the  best  theology,  for  in  it  true  faith 
is  both  grounded  and  found.  And  he  is  a  fool  that 
reviles  it ;  for  he  knows  it  not,  and  blasphemes 
against  God  and  himself,  and  is  more  a  juggler  than 
a  theologian  of  understanding. 


il 


THE  FIFTH  POINT  147 

24.  As  one  that  fights  before  a  mirror,  and  knows 
not  what  the  quarrel  is,  for  his  fighting  is  superfi- 
cial; so  also  the  unjust  theologian  looks  on  Magic 
through  a  reflection,  and  understands  nothing  of 
the  power.  For  it  is  godlike,  and  he  is  ungodlike, 
yea,  devilish,  according  to  the  property  of  each 
principle.  In  sum:  Magic  is  the  activity  in  the 
Will-spirit. 


THE  SIXTH  POINT 

On  mystery.     What  it  is. 

1.  Mystery  is  nothing  else  than  the  magical  will, 
which  still  lies  caught  in  desire.  It  may  fashion 
itself  in  the  mirror  of  wisdom  how  it  will.  And  as 
it  fashions  itself  in  the  tincture,  so  it  is  fixed  and 
formed  in  Magic,  and  brought  into  a  being. 

2.  For  Mystermm  magnum  is  nothing  else  than 
the  hiddenness  of  the  Deity,  together  with  the  Be- 
ing of  all  beings,  from  which  one  mysterium  pro- 
ceeds after  another,  and  each  mysterium  is  the  mir- 
ror and  model  of  the  other.  And  it  is  the  great 
wonder  of  eternity,  wherein  all  is  included,  and  from 
eternity  has  been  seen  in  the  mirror  of  wisdom. 
And  nothing  comes  to  pass  that  has  not  from  eter- 
nity been  known  in  the  mirror  of  wisdom. 

3.  But  you  must  understand  this  according  to 
the  properties  of  the  mirror,  according  to  all  the 
forms  of  Nature,  viz.  according  to  light  and  dark- 
ness, according  to  comprehensibihty  and  incompre- 
hensibility, according  to  love  and  wrath,  or  accord- 
ing to  fire  and  light,  as  has  been  set  forth  elsewhere. 

4.  The  Magician  has  power  in  this  Mystery  to 
act  according  to  his  will,  and  can  do  what  he  pleases. 

5.  But  he  must  be  armed  in  that  element  wherein 
he  would  create;  else  he  will  be  cast  out  as  a 
stranger,  and  given  into  the  power  of  the  spirits 

148 


THE  SIXTH  POINT  149 

thereof,  to  deal  with  him  according  to  their  desire. 
Of  which  in  this  place  no  more  is  to  be  said,  because 
of  the  turba. 


^ggigi,g,^ppii«MwmtiP%*"'^  ^  %  )>-i.^' 


■t,^^'i? 


MYSTERIUM  PANSOPHICUM 


OE 


A  FUNDAMENTAL  STATEMENT 

CONCERNING   THE 

EARTHLY  AND  HEAVENLY 

MY  STERY 

HOW  THEY  ARE  IN  ONE  ANOTHER,  AND  HOW  IN 
THE  EARTHLY  THE  HEAVENLY  IS  MANIFESTED 

DRAWN  UP  IN  NINE  TEXTS 

WHERE     BABEL,     THE     GREAT     CITY     ON     EARTH,     IS 

TO  BE  SEEN  WITH  ITS  POWER  AND  MARVELS.      WHY 

BABEL     IS     BORN,     AND     FROM     WHAT.      WHERE 

ANTICHRIST  SHALL  STAND  NAKED 

A   most  wonderful   revelation,   taken   out   of   the 

highest  arcanum.     Herein  is  wholly  revealed  what 

the  turha  of  all  beings  is. 

Written   for  the   children    of   God,   who   by   such 
warning   will  flee   from   burning  Babel,   and   shall 

be  born  children  of  God  out  of  the  turha. 
All  very  earnestly  and  faithfully  given  from  know- 
ledge of  the  great  Mystery,  the  8th  May,  1620 

BY 


JACOB  BOHME 


»^"***-S«iS1B^«KS*]i«S«^i!Si:i!».^^^;  - 


r- 


-n 


^i 


THE  FIRST  TEXT 

The  unground  is  an  eternal  nothing,  but  makes  an 
eternal  beginning  as  a  craving.  For  the  nothing  is 
a  craving  after  something.  But  as  there  is  nothing 
that  can  give  anything,  accordingly  the  craving  it- 
self is  the  giving  of  it,  which  yet  also  is  a  nothing,  or 
merely  a  desirous  seeking.  And  that  is  the  eternal 
origin  of  Magic,  which  makes  within  itself  where 
there  is  nothing;  which  makes  something  out  of 
nothing,  and  that  in  itself  only,  though  this  craving 
is  also  a  nothing,  that  is,  merely  a  will.  It  has  noth- 
ing, and  there  is  nothing  that  can  give  it  anythmg; 
neither  has  it  any  place  where  it  can  find  or  repose 
itself. 


I 


153 


THE  SECOND  TEXT 

1.  Seeing  then  there  is  a  craving  in  the  nothing, 
it  makes  in  itself  the  will  to  something.  This  will 
is  a  spirit,  as  a  thought,  which  goes  out  of  the  crav- 
ing and  is  the  seeker  of  the  craving,  for  it  finds  its 
mother  or  the  craving.  Then  is  this  will  a  INIagician 
in  its  mother ;  for  it  has  found  in  the  nothing  some- 
thing, viz.  its  mother,  and  so  now  it  has  a  place  for 
its  dwelling. 

2.  And  herein  understand  that  the  will  is  a  spirit, 
and  different  from  the  desirous  craving.  For  the 
will  is  an  insensitive  and  incognitive  life;  but  the 
craving  is  found  by  the  will,  and  is  in  the  will  a 
being.  Thus  the  craving  is  a  Magia,  and  the  will  a 
Magus;  and  the  will  is  greater  than  its  mother  which 
gives  it,  for  it  is  lord  in  the  mother ;  and  the  mother 
is  dumb,  but  the  will  is  a  hfe  without  origin.  The 
craving  is  certainly  a  cause  of  the  will,  but  without 
knowledge  or  understanding.  The  will  is  the  un- 
derstanding of  the  craving. 

3.  Thus  we  give  you  in  brief  to  consider  of  nature 
and  the  spirit  of  nature,  what  there  has  been  from 
eternity  without  origin.  And  we  find  thus  that  the 
will,  viz.  the  spirit,  has  no  place  for  its  rest ;  but  the 
craving  is  its  own  place,  and  the  will  is  a  band  to  it, 
and  yet  is  not  held  in  check. 


154 


THE  THIRD  TEXT 

1.  Seeing  then  the  eternal  will  is  free  from  the 
craving,  but  the  craving  is  not  free  from  the  will 
for  the  will  rules  over  the  craving) ,  we  recognize 
the  will  as  the  eternal  Omnipotence.  For  it  has  no 
parallel.  The  craving  is  indeed  a  movement  of 
attraction  or  desire,  but  without  understanding;  it 
has  a  Hfe,  but  without  knowledge. 

2.  Now  the  will  governs  the  Hfe  of  the  craving, 
and  doth  therewith  what  it  will.  And  though  it 
doth  somewhat,  yet  this  is  not  known  till  the  same 
reveals  itself  through  the  will,  so  that  it  becomes  an 
entity  in  the  life  of  the  will ;  then  it  is  known  what 
the  will  has  wrought. 

3.  We  recognize,  therefore,  the  eternal  Will- 
spirit  as  God,  and  the  moving  life  of  the  craving  as 
Nature.  For  there  is  nothing  prior,  and  either  is 
without  beginning,  and  each  is  a  cause  of  the  other, 
and  an  eternal  bond. 

4.  Thus  the  Will-spirit  is  an  eternal  knowing  of 
the  unground,  and  the  life  of  the  craving  an  eternal 
being  [body]  of  the  will. 


155 


I 


THE  FOURTH  TEXT 

1.  Seeing  then  the  craving  is  a  process  of  desire, 
and  this  desire  a  hfe,  this  same  desiring  hfe  goes  in 
the  craving  forward,  and  is  always  pregnant  with 
the  craving. 

2.  And  the  desire  is  a  stern  attraction,  and  yet 
hath  nothing  but  itself,  or  the  eternity  without  foun- 
dation. And  it  draws  magically,  viz.  its  own  desir- 
ing into  a  substance. 

3.  For  the  will  takes  where  there  is  nothing.  It 
is  a  lord  and  possessor.  It  is  itself  not  a  being,  and 
yet  rules  in  being,  and  being  makes  it  desirous, 
namely  of  being.  And  since  it  becomes  in  itself 
desirous,  it  is  magical,  and  makes  itself  pregnant, 
viz.  by  spirit  without  being;  for  originally  it  is  only 
spirit.  Thus  it  makes  in  its  imagination  only  spirit, 
and  becomes  pregnant  with  spirit  as  with  the  eter- 
nal knowing  of  the  unground,  in  the  All-power  of 
the  life,  without  being. 

4.  As  then  it  is  pregnant,  the  engenderment  goes 
within  itself,  and  dwells  in  itself.  For  the  essence 
of  the  other  life  cannot  grasp  this  pregnation,  and 
be  its  container.  Hence  the  pregnation  must  go 
within  itself  and  be  its  own  container,  as  a  Son  in 
the  eternal  Spirit. 

5.  And  as  this  pregnation  has  no  being,  then  that 
is  a  voice  or  sound,  as  a  Word  of  the  spirit ;  and  yet 

156 


THE  FOURTH  TEXT  157 

remains  in  the  primitive  condition  of  spirit,  for  it 
hath  else  no  seat. 

6.  But  in  this  AVord  is  a  will,  which  desires  to 
go  out  into  a  being.  This  will  is  the  life  of  the 
original  will,  and  proceeds  out  of  the  pregnation, 
as  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  will,  into  the  life  of  ]Magic, 
viz.  into  Nature;  and  reveals  the  non-understanding 
life  of  IMagic,  so  that  the  same  is  a  mysterium  in 
w^hich  an  understanding  exists  essentially,  and  thus 
obtains  an  essential  spirit.  There,  every  essence  is 
an  arcanum  or  a  mysterium  of  an  entire  being,  and 
is  thus  a  comprehension  as  an  unfathomable  won- 
der of  eternity ;  for  many  lives  without  number  are 
generated,  and  yet  all  is  together  but  one  being. 

7.  The  threefold  Spirit  without  being  is  its  mas- 
ter and  possessor ;  and  yet  it  possesses  not  the  Na- 
ture-being, for  it  (the  Spirit)  dwells  in  itself. 

8.  The  Word  is  its  centre  or  seat,  and  is  in  the 
midst  as  a  heart;  and  the  spirit  of  the  Word,  which 
takes  its  origin  in  the  primal  eternal  will,  reveals 
the  wonders  of  the  essential  life.  There  are,  then, 
two  mysteries :  one  in  the  spirit-life,  and  one  in  the 
essential  life.  The  spirit-life  is  acknowledged  as 
God,  and  is  rightly  so  called ;  and  the  essential  life 
is  acknowledged  as  the  Nature-Hfe,  which  would 
have  no  understanding  if  the  Spirit  or  the  spirit-Ufe 
were  not  desirous.  In  this  desire  the  divine  Being, 
as  the  eternal  word  or  heart  of  God,  is  continually 
and  from  eternity  generated ;  from  which  the  desir- 
ing will  as  Spirit  eternally  goes  out  into  the  Nature- 
hfe,  and  reveals  therein  the  mystery  in  essences. 
So  that  there  are  two  lives  and  also  two  beings. 


158        ON  HEAVENLY  MYSTERY 

from  and  in  a  single,  eternal,  unfathomable  origin. 
9.  And  thus  we  apprehend  what  God  and  Nature 
is ;  how  the  one  and  the  other  is  from  eternity  with- 
out any  ground  or  beginning.  For  it  is  an  ever- 
lasting beginning.  It  begins  itself  perpetually  and 
from  eternity  to  eternity,  where  there  is  no  number ; 
for  it  is  the  unground. 


THE  FIFTH  TEXT 


1.  Seeing  then  there  have  been  from  eternity  two 
beings,  we  cannot  say  that  one  exists  beside  the 
other,  and  is  disposed  so  that  the  one  comprehends 
the  other;  neither  can  it  be  said  that  one  is  outside 
of  the  other,  and  that  there  is  a  separation.  No; 
but  thus  we  apprehend  it,  that  the  spirit-life  faces 

inwards,  and  the  nature-life  outwards  and  forwards. 

2.  Together,  then,  we  compare  them  to  a  spheri- 
cal orb  which  goeth  on  all  sides,  as  the  wheel  in 
Ezekiel  indicates. 

3.  The  spirit-life  is  an  entire  fulness  of  the  na- 
ture-life, and  yet  is  not  laid  hold  of  by  the  nature- 
life.  They  are  two  principles  in  a  single  origin, 
each  having  its  mystery  and  its  operation.  The  na- 
ture-life works  unto  fire,  and  the  spirit-Hfe  unto  the 
light  of  glory.  By  fire  we  understand  t^e  fierce- 
ness of  the  consuming  of  the  essentiahty  of  Nature ; 
and  by  light  the  production  of  water,  which  deprives 
the  fire  of  power,  as  is  set  forth  in  the  Forty  Ques- 
tions on  the  soul. 

4.  And  thus  we  are  able  to  recognize  an  eternal 
substantiality  of  Nature,  identical  with  water  and 
fire,  which  are  as  it  were  mixed  together;  where  then 
this  gives  a  light-blue  colour,  like  the  flash  of  fire; 
where  it  hath  a  form  as  a  ruby  mixed  with  crystal 
in  one  substance,  or  as  yellow,  white,  red  and  blue 

159 


t«^*f»l*Rrf''*l»«Mit»%,***^^  *"* 


160        ON  HEAVENLY  MYSTERY 

mingled  in  a  dark  water;  where  it  is  as  blue  in 
green,  yet  each  has  its  lustre,  and  shines.  And  the 
water  checks  the  fire,  so  that  there  is  no  consuming 
there,  but  an  eternal  essence  or  substance  in  two 
mysteries  united  in  one  another,  and  yet  the  dis- 
tinction of  two  principles  as  two  kinds  of  hfe. 

5.  And  thus  we  understand  here  the  essence  of 
all  beings,  and  that  it  is  a  magical  essence,  as  a  will 
can  create  itself  in  the  essential  life,  and  so  enter 
into  a  birth,  and  in  the  great  Mystery,  in  the  origin 
of  fire,  awaken  a  source  which  before  was  not  mani- 
fest, but  lay  hidden  in  mystery  like  a  gleam  in  the 
multiplicity  of  colours ;  as  we  have  a  mirror  of  this 
in  the  devils  and  in  all  malignity.  And  we  recog- 
nize also  from  whence  all  things,  evil  and  good,  take 
their  origin,  namely  from  the  Imagination  in  the 
great  Mystery,  where  a  wonderful  essential  life 
generates  itself. 

6.  As  we  have  a  sufficient  knowledge  thereof  by 
the  creatures  of  this  world,  as  where  the  divine  Life 
awakened  once  for  all  the  Nature-fife,  when  it 
brought  forth  such  wonderful  creatures  from  the 
essential  mystery;  whereby  we  understand  that 
every  essence  is  come  to  be  a  mysterium  or  a  life, 
and  also  that  in  the  great  Mystery  there  is  a  magical 
craving,  so  that  the  craving  of  every  essence  makes 
in  its  turn  a  mirror,  to  see  and  to  know  itself  in  the 
mirror. 

7.  And  then  the  craving  seizes  this  (namely  the 
mirror),  brings  it  into  its  imagination,  and  finds 
that  it  is  not  of  its  fife.  Hence  opposition  arises 
and  loathing,  so  that  the  craving  would  discard  the 


THE  FIFTH  TEXT  161 

mirror,  and  yet  cannot.  And  therefore  the  craving 
seeks  the  fimit  of  the  beginning,  and  passes  out  of 
the  mirror.  Thus  the  mirror  is  broken,  and  the 
breaking  is  a  turba,  as  a  dying  of  the  formed  or 
comprehended  life. 

8.  And  it  is  highly  recognizable  by  us  how  the 
imagination  of  the  Eternal  Nature  has  the  turba 
in  the  craving,  in  the  Mystery,  but  not  awakenable, 
unless  the  creature,  as  the  mirror  of  eternity,  doth 
itself  awaken  this,  viz.  the  fierce  wrath,  which  in 
eternity  is  hidden  in  mystery. 

9.  And  we  see  here,  when  the  Eternal  Nature 
put  itself  in  motion  once  for  all  by  the  creation  of 
the  world,  that  the  fierce  wrath  was  awakened  too, 
and  also  manifested  itself  in  creatures.  As  indeed 
we  find  many  evil  beasts,  likewise  herbs  and  trees, 
as  also  worms,  toads,  serpents  and  the  like, — of 
which  the  Eternal  Nature  hath  a  loathing,  and  the 
malignity  and  poison  is  nourished  only  in  its  own 
essence. 

10.  And  therefore  the  Eternal  Nature  seeks  the 
limit  of  the  malignity,  and  would  abandon  it.  Then 
it  falls  into  the  turban,  as  into  a  dying;  and  yet  there 
is  no  dying,  but  a  spewing-out  in  the  iVIystery,  where 
the  malignity  with  its  life  must  stand  apart  as  in  a 
darkness.  For  the  Eternal  Nature  abandons  it  and 
casts  it  into  shade,  so  that  it  stands  thus  by  itself  as 
an  evil,  poisonous,  fierce  mysterium,  and  is  itself  its 
own  magic  as  a  craving  of  the  poisonf ul  anguish. 


■\*'^«.''^**r'''*%*"ifl''v**%&w^^  -It 


THE  SIXTH  TEXT 

1.  When  we  consider  and  take  cognizance  of  our- 
selves, we  find  the  opposition  of  all  essences,  each 
being  the  loathing  of  the  other,  and  enemy  to  the 

other. 

2.  For  every  will  desires  a  purity  without  turba 
in  the  other  essence ;  and  yet  has  itself  the  turba  in 
it,  and  is  also  the  loathing  of  the  other.  Then  the 
power  of  the  greater  extends  over  the  lesser  and 
holds  it  in  subjection,  unless  it  escape  from  it;  other- 
wise the  strong  rules  over  the  weak.  Therefore 
the  weak  doth  run,  and  seeks  the  limit  of  the  driver 
or  oppressor,  and  would  be  free  from  compulsion. 
And  thus  the  limit,  which  is  hidden  in  mystery,  is 
sought  by  all  creatures. 

3.  And  hence  arises  all  the  power  of  this  world, 
that  one  rules  over  the  other.  And  this  was  not  in 
the  beginning  conmianded  or  ordained  by  the  high- 
est good,  but  grew  out  of  the  turba.  Afterward 
Nature  acknowledged  it  as  her  own  being,  which 
was  born  from  her,  and  gave  it  laws,  to  generate  it- 
self further  in  the  framed  government.  Where 
then  this  birth  has  climbed  to  regal  prerogative,  and 
has  moreover  sought  the  abyss,  as  the  One,  till  it  is 
become  monarchy  or  empire.  And  there  it  is 
chmbing  still,  and  will  be  one  and  not  many.  And 
though  it  be  in  many,  yet  will  the  first  source,  from 
which  all  is  generated,  rule  over  all,  and  will  alone 
be  a  lord  over  all  governments. 

162 


THE  SIXTH  TEXT  163 

4.  And  as  this  craving  was  in  the  beginning  one 
government,  but  in  time  divided  itself  into  many  ac- 
cording to  the  essences ;  therefore  the  plurality  again 
seeks  the  One,  and  it  is  certainly  boi-n  in  the  sixth 
number  of  the  crown,  in  the  six  thousandth  year  in 
the  figure ;  not  at  the  end,  but  in  the  hour  of  the  day 
in  which  the  creation  of  the  wonders  was  completed. 

5.  That  is,  when  the  wonders  of  the  turba  are  in 
the  end,  a  Lord  is  born  who  governs  the  whole 
world,  but  by  many  forms  of  administration. 

6.  And  then  the  self -grown  authority  and  the 
oppressor  will  be  sought;  for  the  lesser,  who  hath 
lain  under,  has  run  to  the  limit.  Then  everything 
separates  itself,  for  it  is  at  the  limit,  and  there  is  no 
staying  or  revoking. 

7.  Also  the  turba,  as  the  fierce  wrath  of  all  crea- 
tures, will  be  sought ;  for  it  has  with  the  loathing  of 
the  creatures  run  to  the  limit,  and  now  becomes  man- 
ifest, viz.  in  the  midst,  in  the  number  of  the  crown, 
in  the  six  thousandth  year,  a  little  over,  not  under. 

8.  In  the  dav  and  the  hour  when  the  creation  was 
accomplished  in  mystery,  and  was  set  as  a  mirror  of 
eternity  in  the  wonders  [of  this  time]  .^ 

9.  That  took  place  on  the  sixth  day,  past  noon. 
There  [also  in  the  end]  the  mystery  with  the  won- 
ders is  revealed  and  is  known.  Where  then  purity 
shall  drive  out  the  turba  for  a  time,  till  the  begin- 
ning pass  into  the  end.  And  then  is  the  mystery 
[of  creation  but]  a  wonder  in  figures. 

1  The  explanatory  additions  within  brackets  [  ]  are  from  Claassen's 
book  of  extracts. 


mmiiimimmtim 


THE  SEVENTH  TEXT 

1.  Now,  seeing  in  the  mystery  of  the  Eternal 
Nature  we  have  such  an  arcanum  from  which  all 
creatures  evil  and  good  were  generated  and  cre- 
ated, we  recognize  it  to  be  a  magical  essence  or  sub- 
stance, where  one  Magic  has  by  desire  awakened 
another  and  brought  it  into  being,  where  everything 
has  elevated  itself  and  carried  itself  to  the  highest 
power.  For  the  Spirit  of  God  is  not  a  maker  in 
Nature,  but  a  revealer  and  a  seeker  of  the  good. 

2.  Thus  hath  evil  as  by  magical  craving  always 
sought  and  found  itself  in  the  Mystery,  and  has 
been  revealed  apart  from  the  divine  purpose.  For 
fierceness  is  a  harsh  rigorousness,  and  rules  over  the 

simple. 

3.  All  has,  therefore,  grown  from  its  own  tree 
without  premeditation.  For  the  first  revealer,  viz. 
God,  ordained  not  malignity  to  the  government,  but 
reason  or  wit,  which  was  to  reveal  the  wonders  and 
be  a  guide  of  Hfe.  And  here  there  meets  us  the 
great  secret  which  has  from  eternity  existed  in  mys- 
tery, viz.  the  Mystery  with  its  colours,  which  are 
four.  The  fifth  is  not  proper  to  the  mysteriimi  of 
Nature,  but  is  of  the  Mysterium  of  God,  and  shines 
in  the  mysterium  of  Nature  as  a  living  light. 

4.  And  these  are  the  colours  wherein  all  things 
lie :  blue,  red,  green  and  yellow.  The  fifth,  white, 
belongs  to  God;  and  yet  has  also  its  lustre  in  Na- 

164 


THE  SEVENTH  TEXT  165 

ture.  It  is  the  fifth  essence,  a  pure  unblemished 
child;  as  is  to  be  seen  in  gold  and  silver,  and  in  a 
white  clear  stone  that  resists  fire. 

5.  For  fire  is  the  proof  or  trial  of  all  the  colours, 
in  which  none  subsists  but  white,  the  same  being  a 
reflection  of  God's  Majesty.  The  black  colour  be- 
longs not  to  the  mystery  [of  the  wonders  of  crea- 
tion], but  is  the  veil  or  the  darkness  wherein  all 
things  lie. 

6.  Further,  we  find  here  the  tree  of  tongues  or 
languages,  with  four  alphabets.  One  signed  with 
the  characters  of  the  Mystery,  in  which  is  found  the 
language  of  Nature,  which  in  all  languages  is  the 
root.  But  in  the  bu'th  of  plurality  (or  of  many 
languages)  it  is  not  known  save  by  its  own  children, 
to  whom  the  Mystery  itself  gives  understanding; 
for  it  is  a  wonder  of  God.  This  alphabet  of  the 
language  of  Nature  is  hidden  among  them  all  in 
the  black  colour ;  for  the  black  colour  belongs  not  to 
the  number  of  colours.  The  same  is  mystery  and 
not  understood,  save  by  him  who  possesses  the  lan- 
guage of  Nature,  to  whom  it  is  revealed  by  God's 
Spirit. 

7.  The  second  alphabet  is  the  Hebrew,  which 
reveals  the  mystery  [of  the  language  of  Nature], 
and  names  the  tree  with  the  branches  and  twigs. 

8.  The  third  is  the  Greek,  which  names  the  tree 
with  the  fruit  and  every  ornament,  and  first  cor- 
rectly expresses  knowledge. 

9.  The  fourth  is  the  Latin  (to  which  many  na- 
tions and  tongues  have  recourse,  which  expresses 
the  tree  with  its  power  and  virtue. 


i^^W-i  -^i  '-tr^%"  («if.''ii!*a™f-^  wT"*'' 


166        ON  HEAVENLY  MYSTERY 

10.  The  fifth  is  God's  Spirit,  which  is  the  re- 
vealer  of  all  alphabets;  and  this  alphabet  can  no 
man  learn,  unless  it  reveal  itself  in  man's  spirit. 

11.  These  alphabets  take  their  origin  from  the 
colours  of  the  great  Mystery,  and  distribute  them- 
selves moreover  into  seventy-seven  languages;  al- 
though we  recognize  only  five  for  chief  languages, 
and  seventy-two  for  the  marvels  wherein  Babel  is 
understood,  as  a  mouth  of  a  confusedness.  There 
reason  abandoned  her  guide  and  willed  to  go  alone,  - 
and  to  climb  aloft  into  the  Mystery. 

12.  As  is  to  be  known  by  the  children  of  Nimrod 
at  the  tower  of  Babel,  when  they  had  fallen  from 
obedience  to  God  into  their  own  individual  reason ; . 
then  they  had  lost  their  guide  and  did  confound 
reason,  so  that  they  comprehended  not  their  own 

language. 

13.  Thus  many  languages,  viz.  seventy-two,  grew 
out  of  confused  Babel,  and  each  entered  into  itself 
and  sought  knowledge,  each  in  its  own  reason  and 
iniquity ;  for  they  had  forsaken  God  and  were  be- 
come heathens.  And  he  suffered  them  to  walk  in 
their  wonders,  for  they  would  not  cleave  unto  him, 
but  would  be  a  special  self-ful  growth.  And  their 
own  reason  (which  was  mixed  of  all  the  colours) 
had  to  rule  them. 

14.  Then  the  turba  was  born,  so  that  they  were 
not  of  one  mind;  for  every  one  would  live  under 
guidance  of  his  own  colour.  And  yet  these  were 
not  the  true  chief  colours,  but  only  their  evil  self- 
hatched  children,  who  hatched  themselves  out  in 
reason.     And  they  ran  without  the  right  guide,  who 


THE  SEVENTH  TEXT  167 

had  created  all  in  one  tongue,  and  revealed  no  more 
than  one, — one  tree  with  the  branches  and  the  power 
together  with  the  fruit. 

15.  For  the  four  alphabets  are  in  one  tree,  and 
proceed  from  one  another.  But  the  multitude  of 
languages  must  have  recourse  to  their  characters 
as  members  of  the  same  family,  and  yet  also  will  be 
their  very  own.  And  all  shoot  forth  in  opposition 
to  the  tree. 


I 


THE  EIGHTH  TEXT 

1.  We  see  here  the  origin  of  two  sorts  of  rehgions, 
from  which  Babel  as  an  idol-god  is  born,  and  that 
in  heathens  and  Jews. 

2.  For  Babel  is  in  both,  and  they  are  two  races 
in  one.  One,  under  guidance  of  its  reason  (as  of 
the  life  and  spirit  of  Nature),  goes  forward  and 
seeks  to  elevate  itself.  It  makes  itself  a  way  in  its 
being;  for  its  will  proceeds  out  of  its  own  craving 
and  seeks  its  magic,  as  a  great  number  for  its  gov- 
ernment, and  goes  simply  out  of  itself  forward. 
Its  will  remains  in  its  plurality,  and  is  the  god  and 
guide  of  its  plurality. 

3.  And  though  the  Free-will  of  God  oppose  it 
and  reprove  it,  yet  the  idol-god  only  flatters  with 
its  lips  the  Free-will,  viz.  the  Spirit  of  God,  and 
honours  its  own  will  in  the  number  of  plurality. 
For  this  will  is  generated  from  its  treasure,  from  its 
own  magic,  and  comprehends  not  the  Free-will  of 
God.  It  is  born  therefore  from  flesh  and  blood, 
from  its  own  nature;  and  is  a  child  of  this  world,  and 
regards  its  treasure  as  its  love.  Hence  it  is  a  hypo- 
crite and  a  confused  Babel.  The  number  of  plural- 
ity and  its  own  magic  confuse  it,  in  that  it  goes  out 
from  one  number  into  many.  This  multiplicity  is 
a  confused  Babel;  and  its  hypocritical  mouth,  with 
which  it  gives  good  words  and  solemnly  promises 
much  to  the  Spirit  of  Unity,  is  an  antichrist  and  a 

168 


THE  EIGHTH  TEXT  169 

liar.  For  it  speaks  in  one  way  and  acts  in  another. 
Its  heart  is  a  craving,  and  the  spirit  of  its  heart  has 
turned  itself  to  the  craving. 

4.  Thus  the  Magician  of  multiplicity  is  a  proud, 
arrogant,  covetous,  malignant  devourer,  and  a  spirit 
from  the  desiring  plurality;  and  is  a  false  god.  He 
is  not  attached  to  the  Free-will  of  Nature,  which 
hath  the  might  of  wonders  at  its  command,  and  he 
has  no  understanding  in  the  Divine  Mystery,  for  he 
cleaves  not  with  his  will  to  that  Spirit.  Else,  if 
his  will  were  turned  towards  Freedom,  the  Spirit  of 
God  would  reveal  his  magical  mystery,  and  his  won- 
ders and  works  would,  with  his  will,  stand  in  God. 

5.  But  seeing  they  go  out  from  themselves,  the 
beginning  seeks  the  end,  and  the  middle  is  the  turha. 
For  it  is  not  in  the  Free-will  of  God;  but  it  grows 
from  itself,  and  elevates  itself  like  a  proud  tree. 

6.  And  as  God  is  one  only  in  will,  one  in  the 
eternal  Desire  or  in  the  eternal  Magic  ( so  that  the 
craving  of  the  eternal  Magic  yields  itself  up  to  the 
eternal  Will,  and  draws  therein  its  hfe),  then  the 
apostate  will  is  a  perjured  whore,  for  it  is  a  gener- 
atress  of  falsehood,  and  hangs  not  on  the  Free-will. 

7.  And  here  we  understand  a  separation  from 
God;  a  cause  of  all  this  being  Lucifer,  who  made 
the  Magic  of  Nature  subject  to  false  desire.  Thus 
two  eternal  lives  are  born:  one  in  the  will  of  God, 
the  other  in  the  will  of  the  devil  and  of  the  fierce 
wrath;  and  this  is  Babel  with  Antichrist  on  earth. 

8.  All  that  goes  out  from  God's  will  into  its  own 
will  belongs  to  Babel.  This  is  seen  in  Jews  and 
heathens,  and  in  all  peoples. 


;^.if-.-^3»._-..;^-«k,   :■_«* 


170        ON  HEAVENLY  MYSTERY 

9.  The  heathen  remained  in  their  own  magic. 
But  those  who  from  the  itch  of  corruption  passed 
out  into  the  hght  of  Nature  because  they  did  not 
know  God,  yet  have  hved  in  purity, — these  were 
children  of  the  Free-will,  and  in  them  has  the  Spirit 
of  Freedom  revealed  great  wonders  in  their  mys- 
tery, as  is  to  be  seen  by  the  wisdom  they  have  be- 
queathed to  us. 

10.  But  the  others,  who  have  lived  only  in  their 
own  magical  will  from  flesh  and  blood, — their  will 
was  drowned  in  the  turha.  And  the  turha  streamed 
forth  in  their  will,  and  gave  them  a  spirit  according 
to  the  essences  of  covetousness  and  fierceness. 
These  have  sought  only  the  number  of  plurality,  as 
dominions  and  kingdoms. 

11.  And  when  the  turha  could  not  on  account  of 
power  advance,  it  grew  furious  and  began  hostili- 
ties. And  from  thence  war  has  its  origin,  viz.  from 
pride  and  greed  of  plurality,  and  belongs  with  its 
number  to  the  Mystery  of  wrath. 

12.  Thus  also  were  the  Jews.  God  revealed 
himself  to  them,  but  they  were  attached  also  to  two 
wills.  One  part  to  the  commandment,  with  their 
will  directed  into  God's  will,  as  the  patriarchs  and 
all  the  pious  hopers  of  Israel.  The  others  per- 
formed with  their  hands  the  work  of  the  law,  and 
adhered  with  their  will  to  their  poisoned  magic,  viz. 
to  covetousness,  and  sought  only  their  numbers  of 
plurality.  Their  mouth  was  a  Jew,  and  their  heart 
a  Babylonish  whore,  a  hypocrite  and  an  antichrist, 
with  fair  words  and  a  false  covetous  heart. 

13.  And  in  the  same  way  in  Christendom  and 


THE  EIGHTH  TEXT  171 

among  all  peoples  the  Babylonish  whore  with  Anti- 
christ is  established.  In  one  people  dwell  at  once 
two  kingdoms,  and  are  not  miscible  in  the  inward 
spirit  so  as  to  become  one,  like  as  clay  and  iron  are 
not  miscible.  They  mix  indeed  by  the  body,  but 
their  spirits  are  two  kinds  (Dan.  ii.  43). 

14.  Whosoever  will  know  Antichrist,  let  him  seek 
him  thus ;  he  will  find  him  in  every  house.  But  the 
worst  of  all  is  the  crowned  whore ;  and  her  sponsors 
at  the  baptism  of  whoredom  are  the  brawlers  who 
lead  out  of  the  one  will  of  God  into  many  wills,  that 
they  may  inherit  only  the  number  of  plurality,  and 
fatten  earthly  bellies. 

15.  And  the  other  part  of  the  Free-will  of  God 
proceeds  with  its  magical  will  out  of  itself  into 
Freedom,  viz.  into  the  one  ungraspable  will  of  God. 
These  stand  turned  backward  in  the  magical  figure. 
Their  life  seeks  bread,  and  goes  forward;  yet  their 
will  is  not  in  the  bread,  but  passes  out  of  itself,  out 
of  the  craving,  into  God.  These  hve  with  the  will 
in  God,  in  one  number;  these  are  children  of  the 
eternal  true  Magic.  For  God's  Spirit  dwells  in 
their  will,  and  reveals  to  them  the  eternal  wonders 
of  God;  and  their  hfe's  spirit  reveals  the  wonders 
of  this  world. 

16.  These  are  free  from  Babel  and  Antichrist, 
even  though  they  should  sit  in  his  lap.  For  the 
true  image  of  God  is  in  the  spirit  of  the  will,  which 
is  generated  from  the  soul's  spirit. 


THE  NINTH  TEXT 


1.  Seeing  then  there  are  two  Magics  in  one  an- 
other, there  are  also  two  Magicians  who  lead  them, 
viz.  two  spirits.  One  is  God's  Spirit,  and  the  other 
the  Reason-spirit,  in  which  the  devil  ensconces  him- 
self. In  God's  Spirit  is  the  love  of  unity.  And 
man  cannot  better  prove  or  try  himself  than  by 
giving  serious  attention  to  what  his  desire  and  long- 
ing impel  him :  the  same  he  hath  for  a  leader,  and 
its  child  he  is.  Nevertheless,  he  now  has  power  to 
break  and  change  that  will;  for  he  is  magical  and 
possesses  the  power. 

2.  But  there  must  be  real  earnestness;  for  he 
must  subdue  the  astral  spirit  which  rules  in  him. 
To  do  this,  a  sober  calm  life  is  necessary,  with  con- 
tinual abandomnent  to  God's  will.  For,  to  subdue 
the  astral  influence,  no  wisdom  nor  art  will  avail; 
but  sobriety  of  life,  with  continual  withdrawal  from 
the  influxes.  The  elements  continually  introduce 
the  astral  craving  into  his  will.  Therefore  it  is  not 
so  easy  a  thing  to  become  a  child  of  God ;  it  requires 
great  labour,  with  much  travail  and  suffering. 

3.  Antichrist  indeed  may  call  himself  a  child  of 
God.  But  Christ  says:  They  shall  not  all  enter 
into  the  kingdom  of  heaven  who  say:  Lord,  Lord, 
have  we  not  in  thy  name  cast  out  devils  and  done 
mighty  works?     But  he  saith  unto  them:    Away 

172 


THE  NINTH  TEXT  173 

from  me,  ye  stinking  goats,  I  know  you  not  (Matt, 
vii.  21-23) .  Ye  have  done  this  by  means  of  false 
magic,  and  have  never  become  known  in  my  spirit 
and  will.  Ye  are  in  your  spiritual  figure  goats, 
tyrants,  covetous  muckworms,  proud  arrogants,  vo- 
luptuaries. Ye  have  carried  my  name  on  your 
tongue,  but  sacrificed  your  heart  to  pleasure,  to  the 
itch  of  the  flesh,  and  are  generated  in  the  turba. 
Ye  must  be  proved  by  fire.  And  thus  to  every 
kingdom  its  fruit  comes  home. 

4.  Therefore,  thou  brave  world,  look  at  thyself 
in  these  writings,  which  the  eternal  Ground  hath 
set  before  thee,  and  meditate  on  it  further  and  more 
deeply.  Else  thou  wilt  be  caught  in  thy  turba. 
There  thou  shalt  with  thy  substance  pass  through 
the  fire  of  God;  and  whatsoever  is  a  work  out  of 
God's  will  shall  remain  in  the  fire. 

5.  But  whatsoever  is  done  in  the  will  of  God 
shall  stand  to  the  honour  and  glory  of  God,  and  for 
the  eternal  joy  of  the  image  of  man. 

6.  Now  think  what  thou  doest.  For  Babel  is 
already  in  flames,  and  begins  to  burn.  There  is  no 
longer  possible  any  quenching,  nor  any  remedy. 
She  has  been  recognized  as  evil;  her  kingdom  goeth 
to  the  end.     Hallelujah. 


!;;  **«ii»-.  tuf^mKnu-irins^- 


: 


THEOSCOPIA 


OR 


THE  HIGHLY  PRECIOUS  GATE  OF  THE 

DIVINE  INTUITION 

SHOWING   WHAT   MYSTERIUM   MAGNUM   IS,    AND 
HOW    ALL    IS    FROM,    THROUGH     AND     IN    GOD; 

HOW  GOD  IS  SO  np:ar  all  things, 

AND  FILLS  ALL 
Written  in  the  year  16-22 


BY 


JACOB   BOHME 


CHAPTER    I 

What  God  is;  and  how  we  shall  recognize  his  divine 
nature  in  his  manifestation. 

1.  Reason  says:  I  hear  much  mention  made  of 
God,  that  there  is  a  God  who  has  created  all  things, 
also  upholds  and  supports  all  things;  but  I  have 
not  yet  seen  any,  nor  heard  from  the  lips  of  any, 
that  hath  seen  God,  or  that  could  tell  where  God 
dwells  or  is,  or  how  he  is.  For  when  Reason  looks 
upon  the  existence  of  this  world,  and  considers  that 
it  fares  with  the  righteous  as  with  the  wicked,  and 
how  all  things  are  mortal  and  frail;  also  how  the 
righteous  man  sees  no  deliverer  to  release  him  from 
the  anxiety  and  adversity  of  the  wicked  man,  and 
so  must  go  down  with  fear  in  misery  to  the  grave : 
then  it  thinks,  all  things  happen  by  chance ;  there  is 
no  God  who  interests  himself  in  the  sufferer,  seeing 
he  lets  him  that  hopes  in  him  be  in  misery,  and  there- 
in go  down  to  the  grave ;  neither  has  any  been  heard 
of  who  has  returned  from  corruption,  and  said  he 
has  been  with  God. 

2.  Answer.  Reason  is  a  natural  life,  whose 
ground  lies  in  a  temporal  beginning  and  end,  and 
cannot  enter  into  the  supernatural  gi^ound  wherein 
God  is  understood.  For  though  Reason  thus  views 
itself  in  this  world,  and  in  its  viewing  finds  no  other 
ground,  yet  it  finds  in  itself  a  desire  after  a  higher 
ground,  wherein  it  might  rest. 

177 


178     ON  THE  DIVINE  INTUITION 

3.  For  it  understands  that  it  has  proceeded  from 
a  supernatural  ground,  and  that  there  must  be  a 
God  who  has  brought  it  into  a  hfe  and  will.  And  it 
is  terrified  in  itself  at  its  willing  of  wickedness,  it  is 
ashamed  of  its  own  will,  and  pronounces  itself 
wrong  in  the  willing  of  evil.  Even  though  it  does 
wrong,  yet  it  accuses  itself,  and  is  afraid  of  a  judg- 
ment which  it  sees  not.  This  signifies  that  the  hid- 
den God,  who  has  brought  himself  into  Nature, 
dwells  in  it  and  reproves  it  for  its  evil  way;  and  that 
the  same  hidden  God  cannot  be  of  the  nature  of 
perceptibility,  since  Reason  sees  not  nor  compre- 
hends him. 

4.  On  the  other  hand,  forsaken  Reason,  which 
here  wrongfully  (to  its  thinking)  is  tormented  in 
misery,  finds  a  desire  within  it,  itself  still  more  to 
forsake,  and  willingly  gives  itself  up  to  suffering. 
But  in  its  suffering  wrong  it  enters  into  a  hope  that 
that  which  has  created  it  will  take  it  from  suffering 
into  itself ;  and  it  desires  to  rest  in  that  which  is  not 
passive,  and  seeks  rest  in  that  which  it  is  not  in  it- 
self. It  desires  the  death  of  its  egoism,  and  yet  de- 
sires not  to  be  a  nothing;  but  desires  only  to  die  to 
suffering  (Qual) ,  in  order  that  it  may  rest  in  itself. 

5.  It  gives  itself  up  therefore  to  sufi'ering,  that 
the  power  of  pain  should  kill  its  suffering,  and  that 
it  might  in  its  life,  through  the  death  of  the  dying 
of  its  Self,  in  that  it  is  a  painful  life,  enter  into  the 
unpainf ul  and  unsuffering. 

6.  Herein  we  understand  r:ghtly  the  hidden  God, 
how  he  reveals  himself  in  the  heart  of  man,  and  re- 
proves wrong  in  the  conscience,  and  draws  that 


ON  THE  DIVINE  INTUITION     179 

which  suffers  wrong  by  suffering  to  himself.  And 
how  the  life  of  Reason,  viz.  the  natural  life,  must 
in  suffering  get  a  desire  to  return  again  into  that 
out  of  which  it  proceeded;  and  how  it  must  desire 
to  hate  itself,  and  to  die  to  the  natural  will,  in  order 
that  it  may  attain  the  supernatural. 

7.  Reason  says :  Why  has  God  created  a  painful, 
suffering  life?  Might  it  not  be  in  a  better  state 
without  suffering  or  pain,  seeing  he  is  the  ground 
and  beginning  of  all  things?  Why  does  he  permit 
the  contrary  will?  Why  does  he  not  destroy  evil, 
that  only  a  good  may  be  in  all  things  ? 

8.  Answer.  Nothing  without  contrariety  can 
become  manifest  to  itself;  for  if  it  has  nothing  to 
resist  it,  it  goes  continually  of  itself  outwards,  and 
returns  not  again  into  itself.  But  if  it  return  not 
again  into  itself,  as  into  that  out  of  which  it  origi- 
nally went,  it  knows  nothing  of  its  primal  being.^ 

9.  If  the  natural  life  had  no  contrariety,  and  were 
without  a  limit,  it  would  never  inquire  after  its 
ground  from  which  it  arose;  and  hence  the  hidden 
God  would  remain  unknown  to  the  natural  life. 
Moreover,  were  there  no  contrariety  in  life,  there 
would  be  no  sensibility,  nor  will,  nor  efficacy  therein, 
also  neither  understanding  nor  science.  For  a  thing 
that  has  only  one  will  has  no  divisibility.  If  it  find 
not  a  contrary  will,  which  gives  occasion  to  it  exer- 
cising motion,  it  stands  still.  A  single  thing  can 
know  nothing  more  than  a  one ;  and  even  though  it 
is  in  itself  good,  yet  it  knows  neither  evil  nor  good, 
for  it  has  nothing  in  itself  to  make  this  perceptible. 

10.  And  so  then  we  can  philosophize  concerning 

I  Dr.  Stirling's  rendering  of  Urstand. 


180     ON  THE  DIVINE  INTUITION 

the  will  of  God,  and  say:  If  the  hidden  God,  who 
is  a  single  existence  and  will,  had  not  by  his  will 
brought  himself  out  of  himself,  out  of  the  eternal 
wisdom  in  the  temperament,  into  divisibility  of  will, 
and  had  not  introduced  this  same  divisibility  into 
an  inclusiveness  for  a  natural  and  creaturely  life, 
and  had  this  possibility  of  separation  in  life  not 
found  expression  in  strife;  how  could  then  the  hid- 
den will  of  God,  which  in  itself  is  one  only,  be  re- 
vealed to  himself?  How  can  there  be  in  a  single 
will  a  knowledge  of  itself? 

11.  But  if  there  be  a  divisibility  in  the  one  will, 
so  that  the  divisibility  disposes  itself  into  centra  and 
self-will,  so  that  thus  in  that  which  is  separated  there 
is  a  will  of  its  own,  and  thus  in  a  single  will  unfath- 
omable and  innumerable  wills  arise,  like  branches 
from  a  tree;  then  we  see  and  understand  that  in 
such  a  divisibility  each  separated  will  brings  itself 
into  a  special  form,  and  that  the  conflict  of  the  wills 
is  about  the  form,  so  that  one  form  in  the  partibility 
is  not  as  another,  and  yet  all  have  their  subsistence 
in  one  ground. 

12.  For  a  single  will  cannot  break  itself  asunder 
in  pieces,  just  as  the  soul  (Gemiith)  breaks  not  in 
pieces  when  it  separates  into  an  evil  and  good  will- 
ing; but  the  out-going  of  sense  only  separates  into  a 
willing  of  evil  and  of  good,  and  the  soul  remains  in 
itself  entire,  and  suffers  an  evil  and  good  willing  to 
arise  and  dwell  in  it. 

13.  Now  saith  Reason:  Whereto  is  this  good  or 
useful,  that  with  the  good  there  must  be  an  evil? 
Answer.     That  which  is  evil  or  of  contrary  will 


ON  THE  DIVINE  INTUITION     181 

occasions  the  good  or  the  will  to  press  back  towards 
its  primal  existence,  as  towards  God,  and  the  good, 
viz.  the  good  will,  to  become  desirous.  For  a  thing 
that  in  itself  is  only  good,  and  has  no  suffering 
{Qual),  desires  nothing;  for  it  knows  nothing  bet- 
ter in  itself  or  for  itself  after  which  it  could  long. 

14.  Thus  then  we  can  philosophize  concerning  the 
one  good  will  of  God,  and  say,  that  he  can  desire 
nothing  in  himself,  for  he  has  nothing  in  or  for  him- 
self which  could  give  him  anything.  And  therefore 
he  brings  himself  out  of  himself  into  a  divisibility, 
into  centra,  in  order  that  a  contrariety  may  arise  in 
the  emanation,  viz.  in  that  which  has  emanated,  that 
the  good  may  in  the  evil  become  perceptible,  effec- 
tual, and  capable  of  will;  namely  to  will  to  separate 
itself  from  the  evil,  and  to  re-will  to  enter  into  the 
one  will  of  God. 

15.  But  seeing  the  emanation  of  the  one  eternal 
will  of  God  continually  proceeds  from  himself  to 
his  manifestation,  the  good  likewise,  as  the  divine 
power,  flows  from  the  eternal  One  with  this  emana- 
tion, and  enters  also  into  the  divisibility  and  into  the 
centra  of  plurality. 

16.  Now,  the  perpetual  emanation  of  the  will 
occasions  the  good  by  its  motion  to  long  for  stand- 
still again,  and  to  become  desirous  to  repenetrate 
into  the  eternal  One;  and  in  such  penetration  into 
itself  the  One  becomes  mobile  and  desiref ul ;  and  in 
such  working  lies  feeling,  cognition  and  will. 

17.  God,  so  far  as  he  is  called  God,  can  will  noth- 
ing but  himself;  for  he  has  nothing  before  or  after 
him  that  he  can  will.     But  if  he  will  anything,  that 


182     ON  THE  DIVINE  INTUITION 

very  same  has  emanated  from  him,  and  is  a  counter- 
stroke  of  himself,  wherein  the  eternal  will  wills  in 
its  something.  Now  if  the  something  were  only  a 
one,  the  will  could  have  no  exercise  therein.  And 
therefore  the  unfathomable  will  has  separated  itself 
into  beginnings  and  carried  itself  into  being,  that 
it  might  work  in  something,  as  we  have  a  similitude 
in  the  soul  {Gemiith)  of  man. 

If  the  soul  did  not  itself  flow  from  itself,  it  would 
have  no  sense-perception;  but  if  it  had  no  sense- 
perception,  neither  would  it  have  any  knowledge  of 
itself,  nor  of  any  other  thing,  and  were  incapable  of 
doing  or  working.  But  the  efflux  of  sense  from  the 
soul  (which  efflux  is  a  counter  stroke  of  the  soul,  in 
which  the  soul  feels  itself)  endows  the  soul  with  will 
or  desire,  so  that  it  introduces  the  senses  into  a  some- 
thing, viz.  into  a  centrum  of  an  ego-hood,  wherein 
the  soul  works  through  sense,  and  reveals  and  con- 
templates itself  in  its  working  through  the  senses. 

19.  Now  if  in  these  centra  of  sense  in  the  counter- 
stroke  of  the  soul  there  were  no  contrarium,  then  all 
the  centra  of  emanated  sense  were  but  a  one ;  in  all 
the  centra  of  sense  but  one  single  will,  that  did  con- 
tinually but  one  and  the  same  thing.  How  could 
then  the  wonders  and  powers  of  the  divine  wisdom 
became  known  by  the  soul  (which  is  an  image  of 
divine  revelation)  and  be  brought  into  figures? 

20.  But  if  there  be  a  contrarium,  as  light  and 
darkness,  therein,  then  this  contrarium  is  contrary 
to  itself,  and  each  quality  occasions  the  other  to 
bring  itself  into  desire  to  will  to  fight  against  the 
other,  and  to  dominate  it.     In  which  desire,  sense 


ON  THE  DIVINE  INTUITION     183 

and  the  soul  is  brought  into  a  natural  and  creaturely 
ground  to  a  will  of  its  own,  viz.  to  a  domination  in 
its  something,  or  by  its  centrnvi  over  all  the  centra, 
as  one  sense  of  the  soul  over  another. 

21.  Hence  struggle  and  anxiety,  also  contrary 
will,  take  their  rise  in  the  soul,  so  that  the  whole  soul 
is  thereby  instigated  to  enter  into  a  breaking  of  the 
senses,  and  of  the  self-will  of  the  senses,  as  of  the 
natural  centra,  and,  passing  out  of  the  pain  of  re- 
bellion and  strife,  out  of  anxietv,  to  desire  to  sink 
into  the  eternal  rest,  as  into  God,  from  whence  it 
sprang. 

22.  And  therefrom  arise  faith  and  hope,  so  that 
the  anxious  soul  hopes  for  a  deliverance,  and  longs 
to  return  to  its  origin  again,  viz.  to  God. 

23.  So  have  we  likewise  to  understand  the  divine 
manifestation.  For  all  things  have  their  first  be- 
ginning from  the  emanation  of  the  divine  will, 
whether  evil  or  good,  love  or  sorrow;  and  yet  the 
will  of  God  is  not  a  thing,  neither  nature  nor  crea- 
tion, wherein  is  no  pain,  sorrow  nor  contrary  will. 
But  from  the  efflux  of  the  Word,  as  by  the  outgoing 
of  the  unfathomable  mind  (which  is  the  wisdom  of 
God  or  the  great  Mystery,  where  the  eternal  under- 
standing is  in  the  temperament) ,  has  flowed  under- 
standing and  knowledge ;  and  this  efflux  is  a  begin- 
ning of  will,  when  the  understanding  has  separated 
itself  into  form.  Thus  the  forms,  each  in  itself,  be- 
came desirous  to  have  also  a  counterstroke  to  its 
similarity.  And  this  desire  is  a  comprehendingness 
for  selfhood  or  ownness,  as  for  a  place,  for  a  some- 
thing.    And  through  this  something  the  Mysterium 


j«%^-^*a--i?^,.  *!ai»'«_.i-j^  %^iii^"i-  -.s^-:  ^-  -^•''  ■■*'^".j~  ^.:^i„  ii^. 


184     ON  THE  DIVINE  INTUITION 

magnum^  as  the  unnatural  power,  is  become  sub- 
stantial and  natural;  and  the  something  has  com- 
prehended itself  so  as  to  become  an  individual  will. 

24.  For  this  individual  will  is  a  ground  of  its 
selfhood,  and  shuts  itself  in  as  a  desiring  will, 
whence  the  magnetic  impression  for  sharpness  and 
hardness  has  taken  its  origin;  and  is  a  ground  of 
darkness  and  of  painful  feeling,  whence  contrary 
will,  anxiety  and  flight  (sensibility)  have  their  ori- 
gin ;  and  is  a  ground  of  Nature,  from  whence  comes 
the  plurality  of  the  qualities,  so  that  in  such  a  con- 
trariety each  will  has  arisen  from  the  other,  to  sep- 
arate itself  from  pain,  like  as  sense  takes  its  rise 
from  the  soul,  the  soul  through  the  senses  being  in 
continual  anxiety,  working,  willing  and  breaking. 

25.  In  this  divine  emanation,  in  which  the  divine 
power  breathes  forth  itself  from  itself,  and  brings 
and  has  brought  itself  into  Nature  and  creation,  we 
are  to  recognize  two  things.  First,  the  eternal  un- 
derstanding of  the  one  good  will,  which  is  a  temper- 
ament, and  thus  only  introduces  itself  into  a  sensi- 
bihty  and  activity  for  the  manifestation  of  power, 
colours  and  virtue;  that  power  and  virtue  may  be 
realized  in  separability,  in  form,  and  the  eternal  wis- 
dom be  revealed  and  pass  into  knowledge.  From 
thence  also  the  angelic,  soulic  and  creaturely  ground 
has  proceeded,  as  well  as  thrones  and  dominions,  to- 
gether with  the  visible  world. 

26.  And  then,  secondly,  we  are  to  understand  the 
original  will  of  Nature,  viz.  the  comprehensibility 
of  the  centra,  where  each  centrum  in  the  divisibility 
shuts  itself  in  a  place  to  egoism  and  self-will  as  an 


ON  THE  DIVINE  INTUITION     185 

individual  mysterium  or  mind.  Out  of  which 
springs  unlikeness  of  will,  showing  how  in  these  two 
a  contrarium  arises,  for  they  are  two  in  one. 

27.  Namely  (1)  that  which  is  inward  from  the 
origin  of  the  divine  power  requires  only  a  counter- 
stroke  to  its  similarity,  viz.  something  that  is  good, 
wherein  the  good,  divine,  emanated  will  may  work 
and  manifest  itself.  Then  (2)  the  self -generated, 
individual,  natural  will  in  the  place  of  the  self-hood 
of  the  dark  impression  of  the  sharpness  also  re- 
quires a  hkeness,  viz.  a  counterstroke  through  its 
own  comprehensibiUty ;  through  which  comprehen- 
sion it  makes  itself  material,  and  requires  nothing 
but  its  corporality  as  a  natural  gi^ound. 

28.  In  these  two  we  are  to  understand  the  good 
and  evil  will  in  all  things.  And  it  is  herein  rightly 
understood  how  the  inward,  spiritual  ground  of  all 
beings  arises  from  the  divine  power,  and  how  in  all 
things  also  an  individual,  natural  desire  arises ;  and 
how  all  the  bodies  of  visible,  sentient  beings  have 
their  origin  from  the  desire  of  Nature. 

29.  Further,  we  should  clearly  observe  that  just 
as  the  individual,  natural  desire,  which  has  a  begin- 
ning, makes  itself  material  and  makes  for  itself  a 
counterstroke,  viz.  a  likeness,  wherein  it  works;  so 
also  the  divine  ground  and  will  through  the  compre- 
hensibihty  of  its  love  makes  for  itself  a  counter- 
stroke  and  spiritual  being,  wherein  the  divine  will 
works,  and  introduces  the  divine  power  into  forms 
and  separabihty  for  the  manifestation  of  the  divine 

power  and  glory. 

30.  And  in  this  world  always  two  natures  in  one 


186     ON  THE  DIVINE  INTUITION 

are  to  be  understood :  First,  an  eternal,  divine  and 
spiritual;  and  secondly,  one  that  has  a  beginning, 
and  is  natural,  temporal  and  perishable  in  self-will. 
For  two  kinds  of  will  are  found  in  one  life :  First, 
one  that  has  a  beginning  and  is  natural,  in  which 
the  will  is  an  individual  astrum,  and  inqualifies  with 
all  that  is  external,  natural,  elemental  and  sidereal ; 
and  secondly,  an  eternal  spiritual  will,  or  eternal 
spiritual  nature,  which  is  a  comprehension  or  com- 
prehended existence  of  the  divine  will,  with  which 
the  divine  will  also  makes  for  itself  a  counterstroke 
and  being,  wherein  it  works.  And  these  two  are 
understood  in  two  principles:  the  first  divine  in  a 
heavenly,  and  the  second  temporal  in  an  earthly. 

31.  And  as  the  heavenlv  han^j^s  on  the  earthlv, 
so  also  does  the  earthly  on  the  heavenly,  and  yet 
neither  is  the  other.  For  the  heavenly  has  a  spir- 
itual nature,  which  is  wholly  an  essential  power,  and 
permeates  and  pervades  the  earthly,  and  yet  pos- 
sesses only  its  principle.  And  it  gives  power  to  the 
earthly,  so  that  it  obtains  another  new  will,  and 
longs  after  the  heavenly.  Which  longing  is  a  de- 
sire to  go  out  from  the  vanity  of  Nature,  whereof 
the  Scripture  says :  All  creatures  do  earnestly  long 
with  us  to  be  freed  from  the  vanity  to  which  they 
are  subjected  against  their  will  (Rom.  viii.  19-22) .  ^ 

32.  Understand  it  aright.  The  egressed  Desire 
of  the  divine  power  for  Nature,  from  which  Nature 
and  self-will  has  arisen,  longs  to  be  freed  from  the 
natural  individual  will. 

33.  This  Desire  is  laden  with  the  impression  of 
Nature  against  its  will,  for  that  God  has  introduced 


ON  THE  DIVINE  INTUITION     187 

it  thereinto.  It  shall  at  the  end  of  this  time  be  re- 
leased from  the  loaded  vanity  of  Nature,  and  be 
brought  into  a  crystalline,  clear  Nature.  Then 
will  be  evident  why  God  has  shut  it  up  in  a  time, 
and  subjected  it  to  pain  [in  the  disposition]  for  suf- 
fering: Namely,  that  through  the  natural  pain  the 
eternal  power  might  be  brought  into  forms,  shape 
and  separabihty  for  perceptibility;  and  that  crea- 
tures, viz.  a  creaturely  life,  might  be  revealed  there- 
in in  this  time,  and  so  be  a  play  in  the  counterstroke 
to  the  divine  wisdom.  For  through  folly  wisdom 
becomes  manifest,  because  folly  attributes  power  to 
its  own  self,  and  yet  rests  upon  a  [another]  founda- 
tion and  beginning,  and  has  an  end. 

34.  Thus  the  endless  life  is  displayed  to  view 
through  folly,  in  order  that  therein  a  praise  might 
arise  to  the  honour  of  God,  and  that  the  eternal  and 
permanent  might  become  known  in  the  mortal. 

35.  And  thus  the  first  question  put  by  Reason 
is  answered,  in  that  it  supposes  all  things  happen  by 
chance,  and  that  there  is  no  God,  seeing  he  suffers 
the  righteous  man  to  be  in  pain,  fear  and  tribulation, 
and  brings  him  at  last  to  the  grave,  like  the  wicked 
man;  so  that  it  seems  as  if  God  interested  himself 
in  nothing,  or  as  if  there  were  no  God,  since  Reason 
sees  not,  knows  nor  feels  him.  Therefore  it  is  de- 
clared to  it,  that  it  (Reason)  is  in  its  own  life  only 
a  counterstroke  to  the  right  life ;  and  if  it  find  in  it- 
self no  hunger  or  desire  after  that  from  which  in 
the  beginning  it  arose,  that  it  is  in  its  own  life  only 
a  foolishness  and  play,  wherein  wisdom  brings  its 
wonders  to  pass. 


I)  ^ 


188     ON  THE  DIVINE  INTUITION 

36.  For  Reason  sees  in  the  wise  man  also  such  a 
folly  according  to  the  outward  nature,  and  sees  how 
God  abandons  this  folly  of  the  wise,  that  it  must 
stand  in  shame  and  reproach  before  the  self-willed, 
foolish  subtlety,  which  nevertheless  knows  not  its 
end.  Therefore  foolish  Reason  supposes  there  is 
no  deliverer,  and  knows  not  how  the  wise  man  is  de- 
livered in  himself  and  freed  from  the  inherited  folly 
by  immergence  of  his  own  will.  For  his  own  will, 
through  the  pain  and  opposition  of  the  godless,  en- 
ters into  its  breaking  and  into  its  willing  nothing, 
and  sinks  again  into  its  first  origin,  as  into  God's 
will,  and  therein  is  born  anew.  And  that  God  is 
not  served  by  the  coarse,  mortal  flesh,  that  he  should 
introduce  deliverance  into  the  animal,  self-willed 
life ;  but  that  to  him  the  matter  hes  in  this,  that  self- 
will  should  break,  and  sink  again  into  God.  Thus 
is  the  inward  good  nature  comprehended  in  God's 
will ;  and  on  the  mortal  body  is  the  more  pain  laid, 
that  the  individual,  natural  will  may  not  enter  again 
into  a  desire  of  its  own  for  selfhood,  and  set  itself 
up  as  a  ruler  over  the  inward  ground,  and  destroy 
the  true  image  of  God. 

37.  This,  earthly  Reason  understands  not;  for 
it  knows  not  how  God  dwells  in  it,  and  what  God's 
will  and  nature  is.  It  knows  not  that  God  dwells 
through  it,  and  is  so  near  it ;  and  that  its  life  is  but 
a  foolishness  of  wisdom,  by  means  of  which  life 
wisdom  manifests  itself,  that  it  may  be  known  what 
wisdom  is.  Its  will  is  gone  from  God  into  selfhood, 
and  boasts  itself  of  its  own  power,  and  sees  not  how 
its  power  has  beginning  and  end,  that  it  is  but  a 


ON  THE  DIVINE  INTUITION     189 

play,  by  which  mirror  (play)  wisdom  beholds  itself 
for  a  time  in  the  folly  of  the  wise;  and,  finally, 
through  such  pain  of  the  godless,  folly  in  the  case  of 
the  wise  breaks  to  pieces,  in  that  they  begin  to  hate 
the  frail,  foolish  life,  and  to  die  with  Reason,  and  to 
give  up  the  will  to  God. 

38.  This,  earthly  Reason  regards  as  a  folly,  es- 
pecially when  it  sees  that  God  also  in  the  wise  aban- 
dons their  earthly  folly,  and  lets  the  body  of  such 
folly,  wherein  the  folly  beheld  itself,  go  down  with- 
out help  to  the  grave.  Therefore  it  supposes  this 
man  has  received  no  deliverance  from  God :  Seeing 
he  trusted  in  Him,  his  faith  must  certainly  have  been 
false,  else  He  had  surely  dehvered  him  in  his  life- 
time. 

39.  Moreover,  because  it  feels  not  its  punishment 
immediately,  it  supposes  there  is  no  longer  possible 
any  serious  earnest  here;  and  knows  not  that  the 
longer  the  more  it  comprehends  itself  in  folly,  and 
becomes  in  itself  a  strong  source  of  eternal  pain. 
So  that,  when  for  it  the  light  of  outer  Nature  per- 
ishes, wherein  for  a  time  it  has  strutted  in  selfhood, 
it  then  stands  by  itself  in  darkness  and  pain,  so  that 
its  false,  own  desire  is  a  mere  rough,  stinging,  hard 
sharpness  and  contrary  will. 

40.  It  hopes  during  this  time  in  an  external  help, 
and  brings  itself  into  pleasure  of  its  will,  and  holds 
that  for  its  kingdom  of  heaven.  But  when  for  it 
the  outer  light  is  extinguished  in  death,  it  then 
stands  in  eternal  despair,  and  neither  sees  any  de- 
liverer about  nor  within  it. 

41.  But  the  wise  man  becomes  in  this  time  to 


190      ON  THE  DIVINE  INTUITION 

himself  a  fool,  and  learns  to  hate  his  folly  (which 
folly  Reason  regards  as  prudence) .  Accordingly 
his  wisdom  (which  the  world  regards  as  folly)  must 
be  a  foohshness  to  Reason,  at  which  it  is  scandal- 
ized. And  so  also  God  in  the  wise  man  hates  the 
foolish  mortal  life,  just  as  the  wise  man  hates  it  him- 
self, in  order  that  the  true  divine  life  may  rule  in- 
him  with  the  understanding.  And  therefore  with 
God  there  is  no  regret  for  the  mortal  body  of  the 
wise  man;  for  he  comprehends  his  divine  Ens  in 
him  in  his  spirit  and  will,  and  lets  the  body  of  folly 
with  the  foolish  descend  into  its  grave,  till  the  day 
of  the  separation  of  all  beings. 

42.  And  Reason  understands  not  this;  therefore 
it  is  foolish.  And  a  man  should  be  a  man,  not  ac- 
cording to  folly,  but  according  to  God's  Spirit;  and 
judge  what  is  divine,  not  according  to  image-like 
[creaturely]  Reason,  for  it  is  written:  He  that 
builds  on  the  flesh  (viz.  on  the  mortal  Reason  of  his 
own  will)  shall  of  the  flesh  inherit  corruption;  but 
he  that  builds  on  the  spirit  (viz.  on  the  divine  will) , 
and  places  his  will  in  the  hope  of  the  divine  promise, 
shall  of  the  spirit  inherit  eternal  life  (Gal.  vi.  8) . 


fi^a  ^^«'*Aet^^    r^'^'U  J* 


CHAPTER   II 

Of  the  mind,  will,  and  thoughts  of  human  life.  How 
it  has  its  origin  from  the  will  of  God,  and  how 
it  is  an  object  or  an  image  of  God,  in  which 
God  wills,  works,  and  dwells, 

1.  Reason  says:  As  the  mind  with  the  senses  is 
a  natural  life  with  a  beginning,  which  stands  in  a 
time  and  fragility;  how  may  it  then  in  this  time  be 
brought  to  the  supersensible  divine  life?  Or,  how 
is  the  divine  indwelling  in  life  ? 

2.  Answer.  The  life  of  man  is  a  form  of  the 
divine  will,  and  came  from  the  divine  inbreathing 
into  the  created  image  of  man.  It  is  the  formed 
Word  of  the  divine  knowledge;  but  has  been  poi- 
soned by  the  counter-breathing  of  the  devil,  and  of 
the  fierce  wrath  of  temporal  Nature;  so  that  the 
life's  will  has  fashioned  itself  with  the  outward, 
earthly  counterstroke  of  the  mortal  nature,  and  has 
come  out  of  its  temperament  into  separation  of 
qualities. 

3.  For  these  reasons  it  is  found  still  in  the  earthly 
image,  and  is  now  to  be  considered  in  three  prin- 
ciples. In  the  first  Principle,  by  its  true  primal 
existence,  it  stands  in  the  outgoing  will  of  God,  in 
the  divine  knowledge,  which  originally  was  a  tem- 
perament, in  which  the  divine  power  did  work  by 
sense.     And  therein  is  rightly  understood  a  para- 

191 


192     ON  THE  DIVINE  INTUITION 

disc  or  working  of  divine  powers,  as  a  perpetual 
formation  of  divine  will.  And  by  this  budding  is 
to  be  understood  the  outgoing  of  the  good  senses, 
whereby  the  divine  wisdom  formed  itself  in  figure 
in  a  divine  manner,  and  by  such  formation  the  di- 
vine understanding  manifested  itself  through  the 
outgoing  of  the  life  of  sense.  Hence  it  was  rightly 
called  an  image  of  God,  in  which  the  divine  will  re- 

vp3,lc(i  itscli* 

4.  But  when  this  hfe  in  the  first  principle  was 
breathed  upon  in  its  image  by  the  fierce  wrathful 
devil,  so  that  the  devil  whispered  it,  that  it  were 
good  and  profitable  for  it  that  the  outgoing  of  the 
senses  from  the  hfe  should  break  itself  off  from  the 
temperament,  and  should  bring  itself  into  an  image 
of  its  own  according  to  the  properties  of  pluraHty, 
to  prove  dissimilarity,  viz.  to  know  and  to  be  sensible 

of  evil  and  good ; 

5.  Then  the  fife's  own  will  consented,  and 
brought  the  senses  as  the  outgoing  Desire  there- 
into ;  it  has  introduced  itself  into  desire  for  ownness, 
and  impressed  or  comprehended  itself  in  selfhood. 

6.  And  then  immediately  the  Hf  e's  understanding 
became  manifest  in  [separated]  qualities;  Nature 
has  taken  the  life  captive  in  dissimilarity,  and  set 
up  her  rule.  Whence  the  life  is  become  painful, 
and  the  inward  divine  ground  of  the  good  will  and- 
nature  has  been  extinguished,  that  is,  has  become 
inoperative  as  to  the  creature.  For  the  life's  will 
broke  itself  off  therefrom,  and  went  into  sensibiUty, 
out  of  unity  into  plurahty;  it  strove  against  the 
Unity,  viz.  the  eternal  one  rest,  the  one  good. 


ON  THE  DIVINE  INTUITION     193 

7.  When  this  took  place,  the  divine  ground  (viz. 
the  second  Principle  or  the  w^isdom  of  God,  which 
in  divine  power  with  the  out-breathing  will  of  God 
had  imprinted  itself  in  the  image-like  life  [of  the 
soul  or  of  the  first,  fiery  principle],  as  in  the  coun- 
terstroke  to  God)  was  eclipsed  in  the  false  will. 
For  the  cause  of  the  motion  of  the  holy  Essence  had 
turned  itself  to  earthliness,  in  which  evil  and  good 
are  in  strife. 

8.  Understand  it:  The  eternal,  unfathomable 
will  of  Hfe  had  turned  itself  away  from  the  divine 
Ens,  and  wished  to  rule  in  evil  and  good.  And 
therefore  the  second  principle,  or  the  kingdom  of 
God,  is  become  extinguished  for  it ;  and  in  the  stead 
thereof  is  arisen  the  third  Principle  in  its  own  fig- 
urative form,  as  the  quality  of  the  stars  and  of  the 
four  elements ;  whence  the  body  became  coarse  and 
animal,  and  the  senses  false  and  earthly. 

9.  Life  has  thus  lost  the  temperament,  viz.  the 
eternal  rest,  and  has  by  its  own  desire  made  itself 
dark,  painful,  harsh,  hard  and  rough.  It  has  be- 
come a  mere  restlessness,  and  runs  now  in  earthly 
power  in  an  eternal  ground,  and  seeks  rest  in  that 
which  is  frail  or  fragile,  but  finds  none ;  for  fragility 
is  not  life's  equality.  Therefore  the  life  sets  itself 
forcibly  above  the  existence  of  this  world,  and  dom- 
inates the  mortal  power  of  the  stars  and  elements  as 
an  individual  God  of  Nature.  And  it  is  by  such 
domination  become  silly  and  foolish,  so  that  in  such 
earthly  imagination  {Bildung)  and  self-assumption 
it  cannot  recognize  its  ground  and  original  state, 
wherein  its  eternal  rest  stood;  and  is  rightly  called 


"  '■■   ■  II Hill  mt 


w^g^^A^&i-^'  •***? 


194      ON  THE  DIVINE  INTUITION 

foolish.  For  it  has  brought  itself  out  of  the  divine 
Ens  into  an  earthly  (animal)  ens,  and  placed  itself 
in  a  fragile  being ;  and  will  i-ule  in  that  which  never- 
theless perishes  for  it,  and  passes  away  quickly  like 
a  smoke. 

10.  And  when  that  breaks,  over  which  it  has  ruled 
for  a  while,  then  the  life  remains  in  its  contrariety 
in  the  first  principle,  in  darkness;  and  is  nothing  else 
than  an  everlasting,  unquenchable,  painful  fire- 
source,  as  the  devils  also  are  such. 

11.  To  the  aid  of  this  captive  life  came  again  the 
great  love  of  God;  and  immediately  after  such 
downfall  inbreathed  itself  again  into  the  inward  ens, 
viz.  into  the  deadened  nature  of  divine  quality ;  and 
gave  itself  to  the  life  for  an  object,  introduced  itself 
as  a  new  fountain  of  divine  unitv,  love  and  rest  into 
the  faded  divine  Ens,  and  revealed  itself  therein;' 
from  which  the  life  is  able  to  draw  and  its  pain  and 
restlessness  in  the  centra  of  ownness  to  extinguish. 

12.  Further,  this  new  fountain  of  divine  love  and 
unity  has,  by  its  outflow  in  Christ,  embodied  itself 
in  the  true  life  of  all  the  three  principles  of  human 
quality ;  and  has  entered  into  the  image-like  senses, 
viz.  into  life's  natural,  creaturely,  dissentient,  im- 
age-like will,  and  assumed  humanity ;  and  has  shat- 
tered egoism  and  self-will  by  the  influence  of  the 
one  love  of  God,  as  by  the  eternal  One ;  and  turned 
life's  will  inwards  again  to  the  eternal  One,  to  the 
temperament,  whereby  the  devil's  introduced  will 
was  destroyed,  and  life's  painfulness  brought  into 
the  true  rest.  And  has  broken  open  the  shutting-in, 
viz.  death,  and  restored  again  the  divine  paradisaic 


ON  THE  DIVINE  INTUITION     195 

budding  with  the  holy  senses  and  workings ;  and  led 
the  holy  life  through  the  confining  of  death,  and 
made  death  and  the  devil's  will  a  reproach.  And 
has  thus  powerfully  demonstrated  how  the  eternal 
One  can  predominate  over  plurality  and  particu- 
larity, that  the  might  of  what  is  image-like  may  not 
be  a  God,  but  the  might  of  what  is  super-  and  unim- 
age-hke  rule  all.  For  what  is  image-like  is  only  a 
counterstroke  to  the  un-image-Hke  will  of  God, 
through  which  the  will  of  God  works. 

13.  But  seeing  the  great  love  of  God  in  Christ 
is  thus  come  to  the  aid  of  human  life  in  earthly  form, 
and  has  made  for  us  poor  men  in  the  life  of  the  hu- 
manity of  Christ  an  open  gate  of  grace  to  the  diAine 
entrance ;  therefore  the  matter  now  lies  in  this,  that 
the  life's  will  taken  captive  in  its  image-like  exist- 
ence should  abandon  again  the  earthly,  viz.  egoism 
and  self-will,  and  inmierse  itself  wholly  and  solely 
in  this  embodied  grace  (which  pressed  from  one,  as 
from  the  first  man,  upon  all,  Rom.  v.  18)  ;  and  take 
to  itself  this  grace,  and  in  virtue  of  such  acceptance 
and  divine  union  sink  with  the  resigned  life's  will 
into  the  supersensible,  superfathomable,  eternal 
One,  as  into  the  first  ground  of  life's  beginning,  and 
give  itself  up  again  to  the  gi'ound  from  which  life 
sprang  forth ;  then  it  is  again  in  its  eternal  place,  in 
the  temperament,  in  the  true  rest. 

14.  Reason  says:  How  can  a  man  do  this,  seeing 
the  Scripture  saith  (1  Cor.  xv.  45;  Gen.  i.  28)  :  The 
first  man  was  made  a  natural  life,  to  rule  over  all 
the  creatures  and  beings  of  this  world.  The  life 
must  therefore  introduce  desire  into  earthly  quality. 


,    .fuiia-,-,..  |'.|^jjAy^,  .^,,..4|.f.^.,,  .   ^..  ._av\prf-'>i.'  ;~i-\ 


IfflaiaiB^iaseii;^*;-'-*^.-*..^.'-. . 


'**!SMBS*^_»tS«!li»SS*<'*"' 


196     ON  THE  DIVINE  INTUITION 

Answer.  Human  life  is  placed  in  a  counterstroke 
to  the  divine  will,  in  and  through  which  counter- 
stroke  God  wills;  and  the  earthly  creatures  are 
placed  in  a  counterstroke  to  human  life,  in  and 
through  which  counterstroke  man  was  to  will. 
Man's  will  was  with  God's  will  to  will,  and  rule  over 
all  natural  and  creaturely  life.  Not  in  animal  but 
in  divine  essence  was  it  to  stand.  Though  man  was 
placed  with  hf e  in  Nature,  yet  his  nature  was  a  tem- 
perament, and  his  life  a  mansion  of  divine  will. 

15.  But  because  life  must  stand  during  this  time 
in  earthly  essence,  and  cannot  be  rid  of  it,  we  must 
look  at  the  threefold  nature  of  the  life  according  to 
the  three  principles ;  by  which  principle  of  the  hf e 
man  may  plunge  into  the  supersensible  being  of 
God,  and  how  this  may  be  done. 

16.  Christ  said:  Without  me  ye  can  do  nothing- 
(John  XV.  5 ) .  No  man  can  of  his  own  power  reach 
the  supreme  ground,  unless  he  sink  his  inmost 
ground  of  the  first  principle,  according  to  the  life's 
image-like  nature,  in  the  embodied  grace  of  God; 
and,  in  accordance  with  the  same  ground,  stand  still 
from  his  own  being  in  divine  hope,  and  give  himself 
up  wholly  with  the  will  to  God,  in  such  a  way  that 
his  will  no  longer  wills  to  speak  according  to  this 
ground,  save  what  God  speaks  and  wills  through 
this  ground ;  then  he  is  at  the  highest  goal. 

17.  If  it  be  possible  for  him  to  stand  still  an  hour 
or  less  from  his  own  inner  wiUing  and  speaking, 
then  will  the  divine  will  speak  into  him.  By  which 
inspeaking  God's  will  embraces  his  will  in  Himself, 
and  speaks  into  the  image-like,  natural,  external 


ON  THE  DIVINE  INTUITION     197 

Reason-Ufe;  and  dissolves  and  illuminates  the 
earthly  imagination  of  Reasoif  s  will,  so  that  imme- 
diately the  supersensible  divine  life  and  will  buds 
and  incentres  itself  in  Reason's  will. 

18.  For  as  little  as  the  hfe's  own  will  can,  in  self- 
ness  and  will  turned  away  from  God,  stand  still  in 
Nature  a  moment  from  its  working,  unless  it  sink 
down  beyond  all  Nature ;  so  little  also  can  the  divine 
speaking,  in  the  life  resigned  to  the  ground,  stand 
still  from  its  working. 

19.  For  if  the  life  stand  still  from  its  own  will, 
it  is  in  the  abyss  of  Nature  and  creation,  in  the  eter- 
nal, divine  utterance ;  and  hence  God  speaks  therein. 

20.  For  from  God's  speaking  the  hfe  has  pro- 
ceeded and  come  into  body,  and  is  nothing  else  than 
an  image-hke  will  of  God.  Now  if  its  own  imagi- 
nation and  will  stand  still,  the  divine  imagination 
and  will  arises.  For  whatever  is  will-less  is  with 
the  Nothing  but  one  thing,  and  is  out  of  or  beyond 
all  Nature,  which  ungroundedness  is  God  himself. 

21.  Seeing  then  the  Unground  or  God  is  an  eter- 
nal speaking,  viz.  a  breathing  forth  of  himself,  the 
Unground  accordingly  is  inspoken  into  the  resigned 
life;  for  the  breathing  of  the  Unground  speaks 
through  the  stationary  ground  of  the  life.  For  the 
life  has  arisen  from  the  divine  breathing,  and  is  a 
likeness  of  the  divine  breathing,  therefore  one  like- 
ness seizes  the  other.  As  we  understand  in  the 
case  of  the  life's  senses,  which  are  such  an  issue  from 
the  breathing  of  the  soul,  as  the  soul  is  an  issue  and 
counterstroke  from  the  divine  soul  of  the  divine 
knowledge. 


198     ON  THE  DIVINE  INTUITION 

22.  Now  as  God,  by  his  breathing  forth  of  his 
eternal  wisdom  and  knowledge,  has  revealed  him- 
self by  Nature  and  creation,  both  by  the  inward  holy 
life,  by  the  life  of  angels  and  men,  and  has  intro- 
duced his  will  of  his  knowledge  into  form  for  re- 
utterance  through  a  formed  divulged  mode ;  as  also 
by  Nature  and  its  re-breathing  forth  of  the  crea- 
tures of  the  visible  world,  and  has  always  made  the 
external,  uttered  by  Nature,  subject  to  the  inward 
principle,  so  that  the  inward  should  rule  through 
the  external  corporeal,  and  be  a  spirit  of  the  ex- 
ternal : 

23.  Know,  then,  that  in  like  manner,  the  intro- 
verted, new-born  hfe  of  man,  in  divine  power  and 
might,  can  and  should  rule  over  the  external  Rea- 
son-life of  stars  and  elements.  And  if  this  be  not 
done — viz.  that  the  inward  eternal  life  in  man,  in 
divine  power  and  light,  rule  over  the  external, 
earthly,  astral  life  of  the  mortal  desire,  and  break 
the  will  of  the  earthly  desire  (wherein  lies  the  ser- 
pent's image) — then  there  is  not  yet  any  new  birth 
or  divine  will  manifest  in  such  life  and  working,  and 
such  a  man  (as  long  as  he  stands  in  the  earthly  will 
alone)  is  no  child  of  heaven.  For  the  divine  scientia 
is  transformed  into  earthly,  animal  quality  by  the 
individual  imagination  of  the  false  will ;  and  is  as  to 
the  body  an  evil  beast,  and  as  to  the  soul  an  averse, 
false  will,  which  wills  not  with  God — after  the  man- 
ner of  the  devils,  who  likewise  stand  in  their  own  im- 
agination of  sensual  knowledge. 

24.  Therefore  Christ  said  (Matt.  xii.  30)  :  He 
that  gathereth  not  with  me  scattereth.     That  is, 


ON  THE  DIVINE  INTUITION     199 

whosoever  works,  wills  and  acts  not  with  the  em- 
bodied divine  grace,  which  God  through  Christ  has 
revealed  and  offers,  but  works  by  natural  individual 
will,  he  disperses  not  only  the  divine  order  of  the 
senses,  but  scatters  also  his  works  into  false  ground. 

25.  Consider  a  parable  of  the  sun.  If  a  herb 
hath  not  sap,  the  sun's  rays  scorch  it;  but  if  it  hath 
sap,  the  sun's  rays  warm  it,  whereby  it  grows.  So 
also  in  the  life  of  essence  in  man.  Hath  that  hfe 
not  ens  from  God's  gentleness  and  love,  viz.  from 
the  eternal  One,  then  it  impresseth  itself  into  a 
fierce,  fiery  sharpness,  so  that  the  mind  becomes 
wholly  rough,  hungry,  covetous,  envious  and  sting- 
ing. And  such  false  sense  and  will  proceeds  then 
from  the  life  into  the  body,  and  into  all  its  ways  and 

works. 

26.  Such  a  fiery,  covetous,  envious  nature  with 
the  life's  sharp  sense  scatters  and  destroys  all  that 
is  good.  There  is  danger  in  all  it  has  to  do  with. 
For  it  carries  its  poisonous  rays  thereinto,  and  will 
draw  all  to  itself,  and  bring  its  poison  thereinto,  viz. 
hungry  covetousness.  But  if  it  be  that  the  fiery  life 
can  eat  of  divine  love,  then  it  is  a  similitude  how  a 
light  presses  forth  from  fire:  Thus  the  right  life 
presses  forth  from  the  fiery  nature  with  a  new  spirit 
and  will  of  divine  love  from  within;  and  is  no  longer 
taking,  as  the  fire's  nature  is,  but  giving.  For  the 
will  of  love  gives  itself,  as  light  from  fire,  which 
gives  itself  to  all  things,  and  produces  in  all  some- 
thing that  is  good. 

27.  If  the  sun  did  shine  no  more  in  the  deep  of 
the  world,  then  would  the  sjnritus  mundi  in  the 


200     ON  THE  DIVINE  INTUITION 

sharpness  of  the  stars,  in  the  sulphureous,  mercurial 
nature  in  the  four  elements,  be  wholly  stern,  rough, 
dry,  harsh,  thick,  dark,  and  hard.  Hence  all  life 
in  the  elements  would  perish,  and  it  would  soon  be 
seen  what  hell  and  God's  wrath  are. 

28.  And  thus  in  like  manner  as  the  outer  man  is 
a  limus  of  the  external  elemental  world,  whose  hfe 
has  its  subsistence  in  the  power  and  virtue  of  the 
sun  and  stars,  and  the  body,  as  also  the  earth,  is  a 
coagulation  of  the  spiritus  mundi;  and  if  that  were 
unable  to  have  in  its  food  the  sun's  power  of  light 
and  of  love,  it  would  become  wholly  evil,  fiery,  and 
mortal,  and  the  external  life  would  necessarily 
perish : 

29.  So  also,  in  like  manner,  the  soul  is  a  limus  of 
the  inward  spiritual  world  from  the  Mysterium 
magnum,  viz.  from  the  issue  and  counterstroke  of 
the  divine  knowledge,  which  must  receive  its  nour- 
ishment from  the  Mysterium  magnum  of  the  divine 
power  and  knowledge.  Now  if  it  cannot  have  the 
ens  of  divine  love  for  its  food,  so  that  it  breaks  itself 
off  from  the  unground,  as  from  resignation  or  re- 
nunciation, then  it  becomes  sharp,  fiery,  dark, 
rough,  stinging,  envious,  hostile,  rebellious,  and  an 
entire  restlessness  itself;  and  introduces  itself  into 
a  mortal,  dying,  fierce  source,  which  is  its  damna- 
tion, wherein  it  goes  to  destruction,  as  befell  the 
devil,  and  likewise  befalls  the  wicked. 

30.  But  if  such  a  fire-source  can  again  attain  and 
receive  in  itself  divine  love,  viz.  the  essential  light 
of  God,  then  this  fire-source  of  the  soul  becomes 
transformed  into  a  kingdom  of  joy,  into  praise  to 


ON  THE  DIVINE  INTUITION     201 

God.  But  without  will  that  has  turned  round,  that 
stands  still  from  its  own  impression  and  shutting-in, 
this  is  not  possible.  For  the  light  of  the  sun  cannot 
so  work  in  a  hard  stone  as  in  herbs  and  trees,  for 
the  water  is  compacted  and  coagulated  in  the  stone 
into  a  hard  impression. 

31.  And  thus  it  is  to  be  understood  with  regard 
to  the  soul's  false  own  will  and  divine  gentleness,  so 
that  in  such  a  covetous,  envious  fire-gi-eed  the  divine 
gentleness  accomplishes  no  working.  Hence  Christ 
truly  said  (John  vi.  53)  :  The  life  of  man  which 
should  not  eat  the  bread  that  is  come  from  heaven 
to  give  life  to  the  world,  has  no  life  in  it.  Thereby 
he  indicates  the  essential  love  which  God  has  mani- 
fested in  him  (in  Christ)  by  a  new  fountain  for  re- 
freshment of  the  poor  withered  soul.  The  soul  that 
should  not  eat  thereof  cannot  attain  the  divine 
Light,  and  were  without  divine  life.  And  indeed 
he  calls  himself  (John  viii.  12)  the  Light  of  the 
world.  Item,  in  the  Psalms:  A  Light  that  shines 
in  the  darkness,  which  changes  the  darkness  into 
light  (Ps.  cxii.  4). 


i 


M 


CHAPTER    III 

Of  the  natural  ground.  How  Nature  is  a  counter- 
stroke  to  the  divine  knowledge,  whereby  the 
eternal  (one)  will  xmth  the  unfathomable,  su- 
pernatural knowledge  makes  itself  perceptible, 
viable,  effectual,  and  desire ful.  And  what 
Mysterium  magnum  is.  How  all  is  from, 
through,  and  in  God,  How  God  is  so  near  all 
things,  and  fills  all. 

A  highly  precious  gate,  for  the  reader  that  loveth 

God  to  well  consider, 

John  i.  1-3  runs  thus:  In  the  beginning  was  the 
Word,  and  the  Word  was  with  God,  and  the  Word 
was  God.  The  same  was  in  the  beginning  with 
God.  All  things  were  made  by  him,  and  without 
him  was  not  anything  made  that  was  made. 

1.  The  beginning  of  all  beings  was  the  Word  as 
the  breath  of  God ;  and  God  was  the  eternal  One  of 
eternity,  and  likewise  remains  so  in  eternity.  But 
the  Word  is  the  efflux  of  the  divine  will  or  of  the 
divine  knowledge.  As  the  senses  flow  from  the 
soul,  and  yet  the  soul  is  but  a  one ;  so  it  was  with  the 
eternal  One  in  the  efflux  of  the  will,  that  is  to  say: 
In  the  beginning  was  the  Word.  For  the  Word  as 
the  efflux  of  the  will  of  God  is  the  eternal  beginning, 
and  remains  so  eternally.  For  it  is  the  revelation 
of  the  eternal  One,  by  and  through  which  the  divine 

202 


ON  THE  DIVINE  INTUITION     203 

power  is  brought  into  a  knowledge  of  somewhat. 
By  the  Word  we  understand  the  revealed  will  of 
God;  and  by  the  word  God  we  mean  the  hidden 
God,  viz.  the  eternal  One  from  which  the  Word  eter- 
nally springs  forth. 

2.  Thus  the  Word  is  the  efflux  of  the  divine  One, 
and  yet  God  himself  as  his  revelation. 

3.  This  efflux  flows  from  God;  and  what  has 
flowed  forth  is  wisdom,  beginning  and  cause  of  all 
powers,  colours,  virtues  and  qualities. 

4.  From  such  a  revelation  of  powers,  in  which  the 
will  of  the  eternal  One  contemplates  itself,  flows 
the  understanding  and  the  knowledge  of  the  some- 
thing {Ichts),^  as  the  eternal  will  contemplates  it- 
self in  the  something  (Ichts),  and  in  wisdom  intro- 
duces itself  into  delight  in  a  likeness  and  image. 

5.  This  image  is  the  Mysterium  magnum,  viz.  the 
creator  of  all  beings  and  creatures ;  for  it  is  the  sep- 
arator in  the  efflux  of  the  will,  which  makes  the  will 
of  the  eternal  One  separable;  it  is  the  separabihty 
in  the  will,  from  which  powers  and  qualities  arise.     . 

6.  These  powers  again  are  in  efflux  of  themselves, 
each  power  bringing  itself  into  individual  will  ac- 
cording to  the  virtue  of  that  same  power.  From 
thence  arises  the  multiplicity  of  wills,  and  from  this 
also  the  creaturely  hfe  of  eternity  has  taken  its  ori- 
gin, viz.  angels  and  souls.  And  yet  it  cannot  be  said 
that  by  this  a  Nature  or  creation  is  understood,  but 
the  eternal  imaged  existence  of  the  divine  word  and 
will,  as  the  Spirit  of  God  has  in  such  a  counterstroke, 

1  Ichts  the  opposite  of  Nichta  (nothing)  is  "I,"  self-consciousness.-— 
Hegel,  Hist,  of  Phil,  vol.  iii.  p.  286. 


liU  j^,..^yf»JW'  -  |.^'i»»  -  V^'-jy^'Ho.'' J«ij  '■'^f- 


,'ijmmfi^'i%~-J'S:',  -C"^ 


I 


204     ON  THE  DIVINE  INTUITION 

in  the  powers  of  wisdom,  sported  with  himself  in 
such  formation  of  similitude. 

7.  As  the  mind  of  man  in  the  understanding  in- 
troduces itself  by  the  senses  into  a  counterstroke  of 
an  exact  likeness,  and  by  sense  flows  forth  and  dis- 
poses into  images,  which  images  are  the  thoughts 
of  the  mind,  wherein  the  will  of  the  mind  works,  and 
thus  by  desire  brings  itself  into  a  sharpness,  as  into 
a  magnetic  appropriation,  from  which  joy  and  sor- 
row arise ; 

8.  So  also,  in  regard  to  the  eternal  mind  of  per- 
ceptibility, we  are  to  understand  that  the  outgoing 
of  the  one  will  of  God  has,  through  the  Word,  in- 
troduced itself  into  separability,  and  the  separabil- 
ity has  introduced  itself  into  receptibiUty,  as  into 
desire  and  craving  for  its  self -revelation,  passing 
out  of  the  Unity  into  plurality. 

9.  Desire  is  the  ground  and  beginning  of  the  na- 
ture of  perceptibility  of  the  particular  will.  For 
therein  is  the  separability  of  the  Unity  brought  into 
receptibility,  whence  the  separabiUties  of  the  wills 
are  brought  into  perceptibility  of  a  self-hood, 
wherein  the  true,  creaturely,  perceptible,  angelic, 
and  souhc  Uf  e  is  understood. 

10.  For  the  will  of  the  eternal  One  is  impercep- 
tible, without  tendency  to  anything ;  for  it  has  noth- 
ing to  which  it  could  tend,  save  only  towards  itself. 
Therefore  it  brings  itself  out  of  itself,  and  carries 
the  efflux  of  its  unity  into  plurality,  and  into  as- 
sumption of  selfhood,  as  of  a  place  of  a  Nature, 
from  which  quaUties  take  thek  rise.     For  every 


ON  THE  DIVINE  INTUITION     205 

quality  has  its  own  separator  and  maker  within  it, 
and  is  in  itself  entire,  according  to  the  quality  of 
the  eternal  Unity. 

11.  Thus  the  separator  of  each  will  develops  in 
its  turn  qualities  from  itself,  from  which  the  infinite 
plurality  arises,  and  through  which  the  eternal  One 
makes  itself  perceptible,  not  according  to  the  unity, 
but  according  to  the  efflux  of  the  unity.  But  the 
efflux  is  carried  to  the  greatest  sharpness  with  mag- 
netic receptivity,  to  the  nature  of  fire ;  in  which  fiery 
nature  the  eternal  One  becomes  majestic  and  a  light. 
Thereby  [by  fire]  the  eternal  power  becomes  de- 
sireful  and  effectual,  and  [fire]  is  the  original  con- 
dition of  the  sensitive  hfe,  where  in  the  Word  of 
power,  in  the  efflux,  an  eternal  sensitive  hfe  has  its 
origin.  For  if  hfe  had  no  sensitiveness,  it  would 
have  no  will  nor  efficacy;  but  pain  makes  it  effectual 
and  capable  of  will.  And  the  light  of  such  kindling 
through  fire  makes  it  joyous,  for  it  is  an  anointment 

of  painfulness. 

12.  From  this  eternal  operation  of  the  sensation 
and  sense-element,  which  very  working  has  from 
eternity  introduced  itself  into  Nature  and  qualities, 
the  visible  world  with  all  its  host  sprang,  and  was 
brought  into  a  creaturely  being.  For  the  eternity 
of  such  working  to  fire,  light  and  darkness  has  with 
visible  world  carried  itself  into  a  counterstroke,  and 
made  the  separator  in  all  the  powers  of  the  ema- 
nated being  a  steward  of  Nature,  by  whom  the  eter- 
nal will  rules,  makes,  forms  and  shapes  all  things. 

13.  We  can,  therefore,  in  no  wise  say  that  God's 


206      ON  THE  DIVIXE  INTUITION 

essence  is  something  far  off,  which  possesses  a  spe- 
cial abode  or  place ;  for  the  abyss  of  Nature  and  cre- 
ation is  God  himself. 

14.  The  visible  world  with  its  host  of  creatures  is 
nothing  else  than  the  emanated  Word  which  has  dis- 
posed itself  into  qualities,  as  in  qualities  the  particu- 
lar will  has  arisen.  And  with  the  receptibility  of 
the  Will  the  creaturely  life  arose ;  which  Uf e  has  in 
the  beginning  of  this  world  introduced  itself  into  a 
receptivity  for  a  creaturely  ground,  which  the  sep- 
arator has  separated  according  to  the  quahty,  and 
brought  to  a  will  of  its  own  after  such  a  fashion. 
And  with  the  self-will  of  such  desire  substance  or 
body  of  its  likeness  and  quality  has  arisen  to  each  re- 
ceptivity; whereby  the  separator  has  signed  itself 
and  made  itself  visible,  as  is  to  be  seen  in  every  hfe. 

15.  In  this  counterstroke  of  the  divine  will  we 
are  to  understand  two  kinds  of  life,  viz.  an  eternal 
and  a  temporal.  That  which  is  eternal  is  in  the 
Eternal,  and  arises  from  the  eternal  Word.  It 
stands  at  the  basis  of  the  eternal  spiritual  world,  in 
the  Mysterium  magnum  of  the  divine  counterstroke, 
and  constitutes  the  intellective  life  at  the  basis  of 
the  eternal  fire  and  hght. 

16.  The  inmost  ground  is  a  spark  of  the  ema- 
nated will  of  God  through  the  eternal  divine  breath- 
ing, and  is  united  with  God's  Word  to  will  nothing 
but  what  the  one  will  of  God  wills  through  such  em- 
anation. 

17.  It  is  nothing  else  than  a  mansion  of  divine 
will,  through  which  the  divine  will  reveals  itself; 
and  is  revealed  to  no  peculiarity  of  individual  will, 


ON  THE  DIVINE  INTUITION     207 

but  only  to  the  instrument  of  the  divine  will,  by 
which  this  chooses  to  perform  its  marvellous  works. 
It  is  the  separator  of  the  divine  will,  an  instrument 
of  God,  into  which  the  divine  will  has  fashioned  it- 
self so  as  to  be  a  wonder-worker  of  omnipotence  and 
glory,  by  which  he  will  rule  all  things.  Wherefore 
also  the  divine  understanding  was  given  to  it. 

18.  The  other  life  is  a  primal  efflux  of  the  sep- 
arator of  all  powers,  and  is  called  the  soul  of  the 
outer  world.  This  life  became  creaturely  in  the 
emanated  qualities,  and  is  a  life  of  all  the  creatures 
of  the  visible  world,  whereby  the  separator  or  cre- 
ator of  this  world  fashions  itself  and  makes  a  like- 
ness of  the  spiritual  world,  in  which  the  power  of 
the  inward  spiritual  world  forms,  shapes  and  be- 
holds itself. 

19.  For  the  spiritual  world  of  fire,  light  and  dark- 
ness is  hidden  in  the  visible  elemental  world,  and 
works  through  the  visible  world,  and  by  the  sep- 
arator imprints  itself  with  its  efflux  in  all  things,  ac- 
cording to  each  thing's  kind  and  quality.  Accord- 
ing as  each  several  thing  is  of  a  kind  and  quality, 
such  a  quality  does  it  receive  from  the  separator  of 
the  inward  spiritual  power.  Not  for  a  possession 
and  individual  power  does  the  visible  receive  the 
invisible,  that  the  outer  might  thereby  be  trans- 
formed into  the  inner.  No ;  that  is  not  so.  The  in- 
ward power  fashions  itself  in  the  way  we  understand 
this  in  the  powers  of  herbs,  trees  and  metals,  that 
their  external  spirit  is  only  an  instrument  of  the  in- 
ward spirit  or  of  the  inward  power,  whereby  the  in- 
ward power  imprints  itself  in  the  external  spirit. 


208     ON  THE  DIVINE  INTUITION 

20.  We  understand  indeed  in  such  powers  of 
growing  things  three  kinds  of  spiritus  in  different 
centra,  but  in  one  corpus.  The  first  and  external 
spiritus  is  the  coarse  sulphur,  salt  and  mercury, 
which  is  a  substance  of  four  elements,  or  of  the  stars 
according  to  the  property  of  their  roughness.  It 
makes  the  corpus,  and  impresses  itself  or  compacts 
itself  into  a  substance,  or  draws  that  which  is  in- 
ternal out  of  the  spiritual  separator  into  itself,  as 
also  the  elements  from  without,  and  coagulates  it- 
self therewith ;  whence  immediately  the  signature  or 
sign  is  effected  by  the  separator.  It  forms  the  vis- 
ible corpus  according  to  the  property  of  the  greatest 
power  of  the  spiritus  mundi,  viz.  according  to  the 
constellation  of  the  stars  or  property  of  the  planets 
and  now  enkindled  elements. 

21.  The  second  spiritus,  which  has  a  centrum  of 
its  own,  is  found  in  the  oil  of  sulphur,  which  is  called 
the  fifth  essence,  viz.  a  root  of  the  four  elements. 
This  spiritus  is  the  softening  and  joy  of  the  coarse, 
painful  spirit  of  sulphur  and  salt;  and  receives  its 
nourishment,  firstly,  from  within,  from  the  light  of 
Nature,  from  the  efflux  of  spiritual  gentleness,  from 
the  inward  spiritual  fire  and  light.  And,  secondly, 
it  receives  its  nourishment  from  without,  from  the 
sun  and  from  the  subtle  power  of  the  spiritus  mundi, 
and  is  the  true  cause  of  growing  life,  a  joy  of  Na- 
ture, as  is  the  sun  in  the  elements. 

22.  The  third  spiritus  is  the  tincture,  a  counter- 
stroke  of  the  divine  Mysterium  magnuin,  in  which 
all  powers  are  in  equality,  and  is  rightly  called  para- 
dise or  divine  delight.     It  is  a  mansion  of  divine 


~x 


ON  THE  DIVINE  INTUITION     209 

power,  a  mansion  of  the  eternal  soul,  whence  all  ex- 
ternal powers  spring,  after  the  manner  of  air  from 
fire. 

23.  For  the  tincture  is  nothing  else  than  a  spir- 
itual fire  and  light,  in  which  fire  and  hght  is  a  single 
and  united  being.  But  because  it  has  within  it  its 
separator,  as  the  emanated  divine  will  to  manifesta- 
tion, it  is  the  highest  reason  for  which  the  first  sepa- 
ration of  qualities  comes  about  in  the  existence  of 
this  world,  and  belongs  by  its  own  quahty  to  eter- 
nity. For  its  origin  is  the  holy  power  of  God.  And 
it  has  a  special  centrum,  viz.  the  most  inward  ground 
of  the  creature,  which  indeed  is  hidden  to  the  mortal 
creature  on  this  account,  that  man  brought  false 
will  against  it.  Hence  arose  the  curse  of  the  earth 
at  the  fall  of  man.  Yet  this  high,  holy  principle  in 
its  own  centrum  presses  forth  through  all  the  beings 
of  this  world,  and  flows  forth  into  the  outer  powers, 
as  the  sun  into  the  elements.  But  the  creature  can- 
not touch  the  centrum  of  this  power,  unless  it  be 
done  by  divine  permission,  as  comes  to  pass  in  the 
new  birth. 

24.  Such  a  revelation  is  seen  in  all  living  and 
growing  things.  All  things  have  their  subsistence 
in  these  three  principles  or  beginnings.  You  see 
an  example  in  a  herb  of  the  earth,  which  has  its 
nourishment  from  within  and  without,  viz.  from 
the  earth,  and  from  without  from  the  sun  and 
stars,  whereby  the  spiritus  of  the  earth  together 
with  the  external  spiritus  fashions  itself.  When 
the  herb  sprouts  forth,  it  is  in  such  power  that 
this  is  realized.     Thus  the  outward  separator  in 


»mm 


210     ON  THE  DIVINE  INTUITION 

sulphur,  salt  and  mercury  signs  itself  externally 
with  the  shape  and  form  of  the  herb;  for  it  is 
the  herb's  motion  and  sensation,  and  makes  itself 

corporeal. 

25.  So  that  when  I  see  a  herb  standing,  I  may 
say  with  truth:  This  is  an  image  of  the  Earth- 
spirit,  in  which  the  upper  powers  rejoice,  and 
regard  it  as  their  child;  for  the  Earth-spirit  is 
but  one  being  with  the  upper,  outward  powers. 
And  when  the  herb  is  grown  up,  it  blossoms;  and 
with  the  blossom  the  oleous  spirit  signs  itself  with 
beautiful  colours.  And  with  the  lovely  smell  of 
the  blossom,  the  tincture  or  the  third  principle 

signs  itself. 

26.  Here  then  we  understand  that  the  inward, 
hidden  spirit  of  the  elements  has  revealed  itself, 
and  brings  itself  also  into  the  form  of  the  fruit. 
For  the  earth  would  have  no  such  smell,  neither 
colours  nor  such  virtue,  if  the  hidden  power  of 
the  divine  efflux  did  not  manifest  itself. 

27.  So  also  with  metals,  which  outwardly  are 
a  coarse  corpus  of  sulphur,  mercury  and  salt, 
wherein  consists  the  growth;  but  in  their  inward 
ground  they  are  a  beautiful  clear  corpus,  in  which 
the  ideal  light  of  Nature  shines  from  the  divine 
efflux.  In  this  lustre  is  to  be  understood  the 
tincture  and  great  power,  how  the  hidden  power 
makes  itself  visible.  It  cannot  be  said  of  such 
power  or  virtue  that  it  is  elemental,  as  neither  is 
the  power  of  the  blossom  so.  The  elements  are 
only  a  mansion  and  counter  stroke  of  the  inward 
power,  a  cause  of  the  motion  of  the  tincture. 


ON  THE  DIVINE  INTUITION     211 

28.  For  power  proceeds  from  the  tincture 
through  motion  of  the  coarse  elemental  spirit,  and  is 
carried  thereby  into  sensation,  viz.  into  taste  and 
smell. 

29.  For  smell  is  nothing  but  the  sensation  of  the 
tincture,  through  which  the  efflux  of  divine  power 
reveals  itself,  and  thus  assumes  perceptibiUty.  The 
sharpness  of  smell  is  indeed  elemental,  but  the  true 
power  and  virtue  in  the  sharpness  of  the  smell  is 
the  tincture.  For  the  motion  of  a  thing  is  not  the 
highest  reason  of  power,  but  that  to  which  the  cause 
of  the  motion  is  due. 

30.  The  physician  uses  a  fragrant  herb  for  his 
medicaments;  but  the  smell,  that  is,  the  sharpness 
of  the  smell,  is  not  the  cure  which  cureth  the 
patient  in  his  sickness.  But  that  is  the  cure,  from 
which  such  balsam  or  smell  arises,  viz.  the  tincture, 
which  imprints  itself  in  such  balsam. 

31.  Christ  said  to  the  fig-tree:  Be  thou  withered 
(Matt.  xxi.  19) .  But  the  external,  audible,  human 
word,  or  the  sound,  was  not  the  power  by  which  it 
was  done.  But  the  power  was  that  from  whence 
the  word  came.  Else,  if  the  external  human  soul 
did  it,  other  men  could  do  it  too. 

32.  The  like  also  is  to  be  understood  concerning 
faith.  Confession  and  assent  in  respect  to  a  thing 
is  not  true  faith,  much  less  is  science  so.  But 
that  is  faith,  from  which  the  confession  proceeds, 
viz.  the  revealed  Spirit  of  God  in  the  inward  ground 
of  the  soul,  which  by  the  confession  frames  itself 
in  the  pronounced  word  and  makes  this  visible 
outwardly,  and  works  with  the  visible  elements  of 


I 


iiHH?s«HmMnfarii««i>>  ittw 


■'■'i^-  «(li»'iwii(jjljr''' (Us'"'? 


212     ON  THE  DIVINE  INTUITION 

faith  and  exhibits  itself  outwardly.  So  that  we 
understand  that  God's  Spirit  co-operates  in  the 
work  of  faith,  just  as  it  works  with  and  through 
the  power  of  the  elemental  world,  and  makes  itself 
visible  through  the  existence  of  this  world  with  a 
counterstroke. 

33.  So  that,  as  regards  everything  I  look  upon, 
be  it  evil  or  good,  I  can  with  truth  say:  Here,  by 
this  thing,  has  the  hidden  spirit  of  the  separator 
of  all  beings  shaped  itself  into  a  property,  and  made 
for  itself  here  an  object  or  image  according  to  its 
efflux,  either  according  to  evil  or  good;  all  accord- 
ing to  the  properties  of  Nature,  according  to  heat 
or  cold,  according  to  harsh,  bitter,  sweet  or  sour, 
or  however  that  may  be.  And  in  all  such  forma- 
tion there  is  only  outwardly  such  an  elemental 
nature,  viz.  such  a  sulphur  and  salt;  but  in  the 
inward  ground,  in  the  tincture,  it  is  good  and ' 
profitable,  and  belongs  to  its  likeness  for  the  nour- 
ishment of  life,  which  by  the  astral  and  elemental 
nature  stands  in  all  properties  according  to  its 
external  ground. 

34.  Every  particular  thing,  be  is  herb,  grass,  tree, 
beast,  bird,  fish,  worm,  or  whatsoever  it  be,  is  of 
use,  and  has  proceeded  from  the  separator  of  all 
beings,  viz.  from  the  Word  or  separable  will  of  God, 
by  which  the  separator  of  each  thing's  quality  has 
made  for  itself  a  likeness  or  image  in  which  it 
works. 

35.  For  this  visible  world  with  all  its  host  and 
being  is  nothing  but  an  objective  representation  of 
the  spiritual  world,  which  spiritual  world  is  hidden 


ON  THE  DIVINE  INTUITION     213 

in  this  material,  elemental  world,  like  as  the  tincture 
in  herbs  and  metals. 

36.  And  as  the  tincture  with  its  virtue  f  ashioneth 
itself  in  all  things  with  its  efflux  and  makes  itself 
visible,  so  that  we  may  see  and  know  by  the  figure, 
as  well  as  by  the  colours  and  smell,  what  manner 
of  separator  or  efflux  of  divine  will  has  emanated  in 
the  tincture  from  the  Mysterium  magnum ;  so  like- 
wise we  may  recognize  in  the  visible  world,  in  sun, 
stars,  elements  and  all  creatures,  the  inward  ground 
from  which  they  arose. 

37.  For  no  thing  or  being  is  come  from  afar  to 
its  place,  but  in  the  place  where  it  grows  is  its 
ground.  The  elements  have  their  cause,  from 
which  they  arise,  in  themselves;  the  stars  also 
have  their  chaos,  wherein  they  stand,  in  them- 
selves. 

38.  The  elements  are  nothing  but  an  image-like, 
moving  existence  of  what  is  invisible  and  non- 
moving. 

39.  The  stars  likewise  are  an  efflux  of  the  quali- 
ties of  the  spiritual  world,  according  to  the  separa- 
tion of  the  separator,  whose  ground  is  the  Word  or 
the  separable  will  of  God. 

40.  The  being  and  motion  of  the  elements  is 
fire,  air,  water  and  earth,  wherein  is  thick  and 
thin,  moist  and  dry,  hard  and  soft,  and  these  are 
united  together  in  one  substance.  Not  that  each  is 
from  a  particular  origin,  but  they  all  proceed  from 
a  single  ground,  and  that  place  where  they  have 
arisen  is  everywhere.  We  have  only  to  conceive 
how  at  one  place  there  may  have  been  a  greater 


i 


214     ON  THE  DIVINE  INTUITION 

enkindling  according  to  one  quality  than  at  another 
place,  whereby  the  motion  has  become  greater,  and 
of  material  things  in  such  form  and  substance  more 
have  been  produced  than  at  another  place.  As  is 
to  be  understood  by  the  material  things  of  the 
earth,  as  also  by  the  water  and  air,  how  a  difference 
exists  at  each  pole,  or  at  each  position  above  the 
earth.  Whence  also  the  difference  of  manners  and 
of  virtues,  as  well  as  of  governments,  laws  and 

creatures. 

41.  But  the  differences  of  such  qualities  have  all 
arisen  from  theMysterium  magnum,  by  the  motion 
once  for  all  of  the  powers  of  all  beings,  as  when  the 
one  will  of  all  beings  puts  itself  in  motion  at  once, 
and  brought  itself  out  of  non-perceptibility  into 
perceptibility  and  separability  of  powers,  and 
made  the  eternal  Power  effectual  and  desireful, 
so  that  in  each  power  a  counterstroke  as  an  in- 
dividual desire  has  arisen.  This  same  desire  in  the 
counterstroke  of  the  powers  has  developed  itself  in 
its  turn  out  of  itself  into  a  counterstroke,  whence 
the  desire  of  such  efflux  is  become  acute,  strong 
and  excessive,  and  has  coagulated  and  brought  itself 
into  material  things. 

42.  And  as  the  efflux  of  the  inward  powers  has 
been  from  light  to  darkness,  from  sharpness  and 
gentleness,  from  the  nature  of  fire  and  light,  so 
has  been  the  origination  of  material  things.  The 
further  the  efflux  of  a  power  has  extended,  the  more 
outward  and  coarse  does  the  matter  become;  for 
one  counterstroke  has  proceeded  out  of  another, 
unto  finally  the  coarse  earth. 


ON  THE  DIVINE  INTUITION     215 

43.  But  we  must  deduce  correctly  the  ground 
of  this  philosophy,  and  indicate  whence  hard  and 
soft  have  taken  their  origin.  This  we  recognize 
in  metals.  For  every  matter  which  is  hard,  as  are 
metals  and  stones,  as  also  wood,  herbs  and  the  like, 
has  within  it  a  very  noble  tincture  and  high  spirit 
of  power.  As  also  is  to  be  recognized  in  the  bones 
of  creatures,  how  the  noblest  tincture  according 
to  the  power  of  the  Light,  or  the  greatest  sweetness, 
is  in  the  marrow  of  the  bones;  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  in  the  blood  there  is  only  a  fiery  tincture, 
viz.  in  sulphur,  salt  and  mercury.  This  is  under- 
stood thus: 

44.  God  is  the  eternal  One,  or  the  greatest 
gentleness  [stillness,]  so  far  as  he  exists  in  himself 
independently  of  his  motion  and  manifestation. 
But  in  his  motion  he  is  called  a  God  in  trinity, 
that  is,  a  triune  Being,  where  we  speak  of  three 
and  yet  but  of  one,  and  in  accordance  with  which 
he  is  called  the  eternal  Power  and  Word.  This  is 
the  precious  and  supreme  ground,  and  thus  to  be 
considered:  The  divine  will  shuts  itself  in  a  place 
to  selfhood,  as  to  power,  and  becomes  active  in 
itself;  but  also  by  its  activity  goes  forth,  and 
makes  for  itself  an  object,  viz.  wisdom,  through 
which  the    ground    and   origin   of   all   beings    has 

arisen. 

45.  In  like  manner  know  this:  All  that  is  soft, 
gentle  and  thin  in  the  existence  of  this  world  is 
emanating  and  self -giving;  and  its  ground  and 
origin  is  in  accordance  with  the  Unity  of  eternity, 
the  Unity  perpetually  emanating  from  itself.     And 


sss:?g:ggsgggS!S!!&asv;i*5i;  >iini»Mr,  ii.w-«M>,.M)>«w/~--. 


216     ON  THE  DIVINE  INTUITION 

indeed  in  the  very  nature  of  thinness  or  rarity,  as  in 
water  and  air,  we  understand  no  sensation  or  pain, 
so  far  as  that  nature  is  one  in  itself. 

46.  But  whatever  is  hard  and  impressing,  as 
bones,  wood,  herbs,  metals,  fire,  earth,  stones,  and 
the  like  material  things, — therein  is  the  image  of 
divine  power  and  motion,  and  shuts  itself  up  with 
its  separator  (viz.  the  efflux  of  divine  desire)  against 
the  coarseness,  as  a  noble  jewel  or  sparkle  of  divine 
power.  And  it  is  hard  and  fiery  on  this  account, 
that  it  hath  its  own  ground  of  divine  inclusion,  as 
where  the  eternal  One  introduces  itself  continually 
into  a  ground  of  threefoldness  for  motion  of  powers, 
and  yet  shuts  itself  up  against  the  efflux,  as  against 
the  introduction  of  the  particular  will  of  Nature, 
and  with  the  power  of  the  Unity  works  through 
Nature. 

47.  And  so  it  is  to  be  understood  in  regard  to 
the  noble  tincture.  Where  it  is  noblest,  there  it  is 
most  of  all  shut  up  with  the  hardness.  For  the 
Unity  is  involved  in  it  in  a  mobihty,  as  in  a  sensation 
of  activity,  and  therefore  it  is  hidden,  but  in 
thinness  or  rarity  it  is  involved  not  in  such  sensation, 
but  is  one  with  all  things.  As  indeed  water  and 
air  are  one  with  all  things,  and  are  in  all  things. 
But  the  dry  water  is  the  true  pearly  foundation, 
in  which  the  subtle  power  of  the  working  of 
the  Unity  is  in  the  centre.  To  ours,  who  are 
worthy  of  this,  it  is  hereby  intimated,  that  they 
should  not  give  their  attention  to  the  soft  and 
yielding    apart    from    the    fiery    nature,    to    seek 


ON  THE  DIVINE  INTUITION     217 

the   mystery   therein.     Understand   this   mystery 

thus: 

48.  That  the  soft  and  thin  arises  from  the  Unity, 
from  its  emanation,  from  the  3Iysterium  magnum, 
and  is  nearest  to  the  Unity;  and,  on  the  other 
hand,    the   noblest    ground   of    divine   revelation, 
both   in   power   and   operation,   lies   in  the   fiery 
hardness,  and  is  a  dry  unity  or  a  temperament, 
wherein  again  is  contained  the  separabihty  of  all 
powers.     For,  where  powers  are  comprised  not  in 
the  unity  of  a  will,  there  the  will  is  divided,  and 
no    great    power    is    to    be    understood    in    that 
thing.     Which  ought  well  to  be  observed  by  the 
physicians,  that  they  should  not  look  to  the  coarse 
spiritus    of    strong    smell,    and    regard    that    as 
the  true  balsam;   although  it  is   present  therein,, 
and  so  is  the  tincture  therein  very  mobile   and 

evolant. 

49.  The  spiritus  or  spiritual  essences  of  the  strong 
power  in  smell  must  be  brought  into  the  tempera- 
ment, into  unity,  and  not  be  flying  from  it,  whereby 
men  attempt  to  cure  with  salt,  as  with  the  sharp- 
ness of  fire,  and  give  to  the  patient  soul  without 

spirit.  . 

50.  The  soul  of  such  balsams  is  separated  in  the 
qualities;  each  one  gives  itself  in  its  great  joy 
separately,  but  in  separation  they  are  too  rebellious. 
Thev  unite  not  hf  e's  enmity  and  division,  but  kindle 

life's  division  more. 

51.  Shut  them  up  and  make  them  one,  so  that 
they  all  have  one  will  in  love,  and  you  have  the 


,  i.j;,rfjtiia.*B-^ife--j'-n*-,,()'  v.^y^-ia^-g'?^^"'^ 


,--  *i*^i«ijs.;>»«*-^<.-'a.'»«:  *s»,*MbW*«*..^'' 


218     ON  THE  DIVINE  INTUITION 

pearl  of  the  whole  world.     To  provoke  to  wrath - 
causes  pride  and  strife,  which  is  to  be  recognized 

in  all  things. 

52.  A  prisoner  is  comforted  only  by  his  release, 
until  he  place  his  will  in  hope,  and  compose  himself 
with  patience;  and  so  at  last  his  restlessness  falls 
into  hope,  into  the  temperament,  and  he  learns  m 
such  hope  to  become  humble.  Then,  if  one  tells  him 
of  his  release,  he  rejoices. 

53.  Therefore,  ye  physicians,  observe  it,  that  is 
your  pearl,  if  you  can  understand  this,  the  meaning 
is  internal  and  external. 


CHAPTER  IV 

Of  the  In  and  Out.  How  the  eternal  will  of  God 
carries  itself  outwards  and  into  perceptihihtij . 
inwards  and  again  into  the  One. 

Here  may  he  understood  to  what  end  the  being  of  this 
world  was  created,  and  what  purpose  the  creaturely 
around  serves.  Further,  to  what  end  joy  and  sor- 
row have  become  manifest;  and  how  God  ts  so  near 
all  things. 

1  John  i.  11-13  runs  thus:  He  (Jesus  Christ) 
came  unto  his  own,  and  his  own  received  him  not. 
But  as  many  as  received  him,  to  them  gave  he  power 
to  become  children  of  God,  even  to  them  that 
believe  on  his  name:  which  were  born,  not  of  blood, 
nor  of  the  will  of  the  flesh,  nor  of  the  will  of  man, 

but  of  God.  .  , 

2  In  these  words  we  have  precious  ground 
of  divine  revelation,  viz.  the  eternal  In  and  Out. 
For  they  speak  of  this,  how  the  hidden  dmne 
eternal  Word  of  the  divine  power  of  the  Unity 
came  forth  into  the  emanated,  natural,  creaturely, 
image-like   Word,    viz.    into   humanity,    into    his 

°T*  For  the  emanated,  image-like  creaturely  Word 
is  the  ever-speaking  Word's  property.  And  it  is 
thereby  clearly  signified  that  his  own,  or  the 
averse,  image-like,   particular  will,  received  him 

219 


220     ON  THE  DIVINE  INTUITION 

not.  This  individual,  image-like  will  had  arisen 
from  its  own  ground,  viz.  from  flesh  and  blood  of 
the  self-ful  nature  of  man  and  woman,  that  is,  in 
the  separator  of  the  emanated  will,  where  the 
eternal  will  had  confined  itself  in  ownership,  and 
would  go  forth  and  rule  in  personal  power  and 

might. 

4.  This  received  not  the  eternal  Word  (which, 
as  an  outflow  of  divine  grace,  again  came  forth 
to  the  averse  will),  for  it  would  be  an  individual 
lord.  But  the  will  which  has  turned  round,  so  that 
it  has  been  born  anew  in  the  divine  outflow  of  love, 
to  that  gave  he  power  to  become  God's  child.  For 
it  is  not  the  natural,  individual  will  can  inherit  the 
divine  childship,  but  only  that  which,  united  with 
the  Unity,  is  one  with  all  things,  in  which  God 
himself  works  and  wills. 

5.  Wherein  we  clearly  understand  how  the  in- 
ward ground  has  extroverted  itself  and  made  itself 
visible,  and  is  a  peculiar  possession  of  God,  as  an 
efflux  of  divine  power  and  will. 


THE   END. 


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